“When I got my licence, I felt confident in providing health services to the public and it also reminds me that I need to focus on providing good clinical care to patients,” said Ms Bounmala Sorpaseut who had just received an official licence to practice from the Government of Lao PDR. She is currently Deputy Head of Nursing at the Children’s Hospital in the country’s capital, Vientiane.

The hospital where she works is state-owned and treats over 100,000 children each year. This is critical in a country where it is still quite common for children to die from preventable and treatable diseases, such as dengue fever, pneumonia, and diarrhoea. During the time of COVID-19, strong nursing skills and a competent health workforce are more important than ever before

Healthcare workers at this hospital, including doctors, nurses, midwives and dentists, are the first to be formally licensed by the Ministry of Health. The licensing scheme is part of a new government initiative to monitor and reinforce the skills of existing healthcare workers and provide high quality education and training to the coming generations of healthcare workers. With support from the UHC Partnership, WHO in Lao PDR has assisted the Ministry of Health’s work in close collaboration with the country’s Healthcare Professional Council, in this area.

The UHC Partnership, hosted by WHO, assists 115 countries in accelerating progress to achieve UHC through funding provided by the European Union (EU), the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Irish Aid, the Government of Japan, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the United Kingdom - Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Belgium.

The work in Laos started four years before the pandemic struck, but COVID-19 has highlighted just how vital it is that all health workers have the confidence and skills they need to protect and treat patients and to prevent and control infection.

^{A nurse shows trainees how to use personal protective equipment (PPE) safely during a COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) training at Setthathirath Hospital. ©WHO/Blink Media - Bart Verweij}

Human resources for health as a pillar of health sector reform

Lao PDR has a strategic goal to achieve UHC by 2025 and strengthening human resources for health is one of the five pillars of its health sector reform, along with service delivery, financing, governance, management and coordination, and monitoring and evaluation.

The Ministry of Health has identified human resources for health as a key priority area, noting the importance of having a sufficient number of skilled professionals. This means monitoring and reinforcing the skills of existing healthcare workers as well as providing high quality education and training to future healthcare workers.

The work started with a WHO-supported mid-term review of progress in implementing the country‘s Health Personnel Development Strategy and development of a Regulatory Framework for the Registration and Licensing of Healthcare Professionals in close collaboration with development partners. Later, WHO provided support in improving the health sector’s human resources information system - the Health Personnel Information Management System. In 2020, through collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs, WHO supported the Ministry of Health to develop new guidelines for incentives for human resources for health as well as job descriptions for healthcare workers. These aim to provide clear guidance on roles and responsibilities at each level of service delivery. 

A major step towards health for all

At the end of November 2020, Lao PDR had so far escaped a severe impact of COVID-19, with a total of only 39 cases. The Government had responded to the pandemic effectively by making timely decisions to introduce and later ease public health and social measures. With support from WHO and other partners, the Government has also made great efforts to prepare the health system for early detection, testing and clinical management.

The urgent need to achieve UHC still remains however, and having a strong, well trained, motivated and confident health workforce, is key to achieving this. 

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