African Union (AU) Commissioner for Health, Ambassador Amma Twum-Amoah, has warned that training health professionals without creating opportunities to employ and retain them amounts to a waste of public investment and human potential.
She said Africa must move beyond increasing the number of trained health workers and focus on building sustainable systems that recruit, fairly compensate, protect, and retain professionals across the continent.
Speaking at the African Union Extraordinary Health Summit in Accra on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, Ambassador Twum-Amoah said the continent faces a worrying contradiction where many countries struggle with severe shortages of health personnel while some trained professionals remain unemployed.
“We must invest decisively in the health workforce. Africa faces a profound paradox: severe shortages of health personnel coexist with unemployment among trained health professionals,” she said.
According to her, governments must ensure that doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, laboratory personnel, epidemiologists, and community health workers have clear pathways into employment after completing their training.
“Training health workers without creating pathways to employ and retain them is a loss of public investment and human potential,” she added.
She also called for urgent action to address challenges contributing to health worker migration, including poor working conditions, limited career advancement opportunities, and inadequate incentives.
The AU Health Commissioner noted that improving Africa’s healthcare systems requires not only expanding the health workforce but also creating an environment that encourages professionals to remain and serve within their countries.
The Extraordinary Health Summit, being held under the theme, “Advancing Justice, Equity and Universal Health Coverage: Ending AIDS, TB, Improving Maternal Health, Addressing Endemic Non-Communicable and Neglected Tropical Diseases and Conditions in Africa,” is bringing together health leaders and stakeholders to develop strategies to strengthen health security and improve disease response across the continent.
The summit is expected to focus on measures to accelerate progress towards universal health coverage, tackle major health challenges, and build resilient healthcare systems capable of responding to future emergencies.
