The call came here on Friday after the end of a four-day meeting convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on human resources for maternal survival.

This Call to Action focuses on task-shifting emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) from physicians to highly trained non-physician clinicians (NPCs) and midwives in order to address the critical human resource gap and prevent needless death and disability during pregnancy and childbirth.

The Call to Action decried the chronic shortage in the number of skilled health workers in Africa who can deliver life-saving interventions.

There are fewer than five doctors for every 100,000 people on the continent, and each year 20,000 health professionals abandon their posts in rural areas in pursuit of jobs in urban areas or abroad.

The consequence of this migration of health workers is disproportionately felt by the poorest and most marginalized people, the statement said.

Within the Call to Action, the training and deployment of NPCs was acknowledged as an important and innovative solution to this human resource crisis.

In the Call to Action, delegates expressed concern that only five years remain to achieve these MDGs.

Closing the Conference, Ethiopia’s health minister Dr. Tedros Adhanom urged his colleagues from the continent to be creative in seeking solutions to the tragedy of maternal mortality and morbidity in Africa.

Spain’s Minister of Gender Equality, Bibiana Aido Almagro, also pledged her country’s continued support to African efforts to improve maternal health.

Over 350 participants comprising ministers, senior government officials, health program managers, clinicians, and heads of health training institutes attended the meeting.

The conference was a collaborative effort of the Ethiopia, the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program of Columbia University, (UNFPA), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

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