The Aspen Institute Health Worker Migration Policy Council announced the 2013 awardees of the Health Worker Migration Policy Council Innovation Award  – Rwanda and Ireland for their efforts to strengthen health systems at home and abroad. The Health Worker Migration Policy Council, along with their partners World Health Organization, International Organization for Migration, Global Health Workforce Alliance, Health Workforce Advocacy Alliance and the African Platform on Human Resources for Health, are delighted to recognize Ireland and Rwanda’s vision and political will in this area, and to hole them up as models to other countries. Ireland and Rwanda inspire the Council and other countries to be bold and to point towards solutions.

Both Ireland and Rwanda uphold the principles of the World Health Organization’s Global Code of Practice which was passed 3 years ago with unanimous agreement by 193 countries. Ireland is, in percentage terms, among the biggest recruiters of foreign trained nurses and doctors among OECD countries. In 2008, Ireland – at 47%-had twice the proportion of registered foregin trained nurses to the OECD country ranked second, and by 2011 may also rank first for foreign-trained doctors. Rwanda demonstrates a strong commitment to strengthening the health ssystem by strengthening their health workforce. The Governement of Rwanda, through the Ministry of Health, launched the Human Resources for Health (HRH) program in July 2012. This program will build the healthcare education infrastructure and workforce necessary to create a high quality, sustainable healthcare system in Rwanda by addressing the country’s most challenging health care obstacles. 

The award reception was held in Recife, Brazil during the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health. The event was organized by The Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) under the patronage of the Government of Brazil, World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)

We sincerely thank our partners for making the event a success, and CONGRATULATIONS to the winners and all the nominated countries for their dedication in addressing the challenges of health worker migration.

The Aspen Institute Health Worker Migration Policy Council announced the 2013 awardees of the Health Worker Migration Policy Council Innovation Award – Rwanda and Ireland for their efforts to strengthen health systems at home and abroad. The Health Worker Migration Policy Council, along with their partners World Health Organization, International Organization for Migration, Global Health Workforce Alliance, Health Workforce Advocacy Alliance and the African Platform on Human Resources for Health, are delighted to recognize Ireland and Rwanda’s vision and political will in this area, and to hole them up as models to other countries. Ireland and Rwanda inspire the Council and other countries to be bold and to point towards solutions.