The Next Wave of Deaths from Ebola? : The Impact of Health Care Worker Mortality
The ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa has put a huge strain on already weak health systems. Ebola deaths have been disproportionately concentrated among health care workers, exacerbating existing skill shortages in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra L...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/07/24652897/next-wave-deaths-ebola-impact-health-care-worker-mortality http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22147 |
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okr-10986-221472021-04-23T14:04:07Z The Next Wave of Deaths from Ebola? : The Impact of Health Care Worker Mortality Evans, David K. Goldstein, Markus Popova, Anna BIRTH WORKFORCE PEOPLE VACCINATION INCOME DEATHS UNDER-FIVE MORTALITY DOCTORS MATERNAL MORTALITY DATA HEALTH ECONOMICS DYING LIVE BIRTHS COMMUNITY HEALTH MORTALITY RATES VACCINE COVERAGE HEALTH CARE HEALTH CARE WORKERS HEALTH POLICY DISCUSSIONS HEALTH WORKERS EPIDEMIC DEVELOPMENT GOALS NUMBER OF PEOPLE CATALYST LIFE EXPECTANCY MATERNAL MORTALITY HEALTH SECTOR TRAINING INTERVENTION HEALTH SYSTEMS MIGRATION NURSES MORTALITY RATE HEALTH WORKFORCE VICIOUS CYCLE HEALTH ORGANIZATION GLOBAL HEALTH EPIDEMICS MORTALITY PROGRESS CHILDBIRTH INFANT MORTALITY INFANT WORKERS AGED DOCTOR HIV BASIC NEEDS NATAL CARE NURSE POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER CARE CHILDHOOD HEALTH EFFECTS BIRTHS HEALTH OUTCOMES MEASUREMENT MEASLES POPULATIONS CARE SYSTEMS MALARIA HEALTH COVERAGE POLICY BURDEN OF DISEASE PRIMARY HEALTH CARE FEMALE LITERACY WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION MATERNAL MORTALITY RATIO HEALTH SYSTEM GENERAL HEALTH SYSTEM CHILDREN MORTALITY RATIO DISEASE RISK HUMAN RESOURCES MIDWIVES POVERTY HEALTH EXPENDITURE HEALTH-SYSTEM INFANTS POPULATION STUDENTS POLICY RESEARCH POPULATION DATA WOMEN HOSPITALS HEALTH INTERVENTIONS MATERNAL MORTALITY RATES MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS HEALTH SERVICE INFANT MORTALITY RATE FEMALE INFANT DEATHS NURSING SKILLED ATTENDANTS DEVELOPMENT POLICY The ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa has put a huge strain on already weak health systems. Ebola deaths have been disproportionately concentrated among health care workers, exacerbating existing skill shortages in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in a way that will negatively affect the health of the populations even after Ebola has been eliminated. This paper combines data on cumulative health care worker deaths from Ebola, the stock of health care workers and mortality rates pre-Ebola, and coefficients that summarize the relationship between health care workers in a given country and rates of maternal, infant, and under-five mortality. The paper estimates how the loss of health care workers to Ebola will likely affect non-Ebola mortality even after the disease is eliminated. It then estimates the size of the resource gap that needs to be filled to avoid these deaths, and to reach the minimum thresholds of health coverage described in the Millennium Development Goals. Maternal mortality could increase by 38 percent in Guinea, 74 percent in Sierra Leone, and 111 percent in Liberia due to the reduction in health personnel caused by the epidemic. This translates to an additional 4,022 women dying per year across the three most affected countries. To avoid these deaths, 240 doctors, nurses, and midwives would need to be immediately hired across the three countries. This is a small fraction of the 43,565 doctors, nurses, and midwives that would need to be hired to achieve the adequate health coverage implied by the Millennium Development Goals. Substantial investment in health systems is urgently required not only to improve future epidemic preparedness, but also to limit the secondary health effects of the current epidemic owing to the depletion of the health workforce. 2015-07-13T18:40:46Z 2015-07-13T18:40:46Z 2015-07 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/07/24652897/next-wave-deaths-ebola-impact-health-care-worker-mortality http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22147 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7344 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa West Africa Guinea Liberia Sierra Leone |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
BIRTH WORKFORCE PEOPLE VACCINATION INCOME DEATHS UNDER-FIVE MORTALITY DOCTORS MATERNAL MORTALITY DATA HEALTH ECONOMICS DYING LIVE BIRTHS COMMUNITY HEALTH MORTALITY RATES VACCINE COVERAGE HEALTH CARE HEALTH CARE WORKERS HEALTH POLICY DISCUSSIONS HEALTH WORKERS EPIDEMIC DEVELOPMENT GOALS NUMBER OF PEOPLE CATALYST LIFE EXPECTANCY MATERNAL MORTALITY HEALTH SECTOR TRAINING INTERVENTION HEALTH SYSTEMS MIGRATION NURSES MORTALITY RATE HEALTH WORKFORCE VICIOUS CYCLE HEALTH ORGANIZATION GLOBAL HEALTH EPIDEMICS MORTALITY PROGRESS CHILDBIRTH INFANT MORTALITY INFANT WORKERS AGED DOCTOR HIV BASIC NEEDS NATAL CARE NURSE POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER CARE CHILDHOOD HEALTH EFFECTS BIRTHS HEALTH OUTCOMES MEASUREMENT MEASLES POPULATIONS CARE SYSTEMS MALARIA HEALTH COVERAGE POLICY BURDEN OF DISEASE PRIMARY HEALTH CARE FEMALE LITERACY WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION MATERNAL MORTALITY RATIO HEALTH SYSTEM GENERAL HEALTH SYSTEM CHILDREN MORTALITY RATIO DISEASE RISK HUMAN RESOURCES MIDWIVES POVERTY HEALTH EXPENDITURE HEALTH-SYSTEM INFANTS POPULATION STUDENTS POLICY RESEARCH POPULATION DATA WOMEN HOSPITALS HEALTH INTERVENTIONS MATERNAL MORTALITY RATES MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS HEALTH SERVICE INFANT MORTALITY RATE FEMALE INFANT DEATHS NURSING SKILLED ATTENDANTS DEVELOPMENT POLICY |
| spellingShingle |
BIRTH WORKFORCE PEOPLE VACCINATION INCOME DEATHS UNDER-FIVE MORTALITY DOCTORS MATERNAL MORTALITY DATA HEALTH ECONOMICS DYING LIVE BIRTHS COMMUNITY HEALTH MORTALITY RATES VACCINE COVERAGE HEALTH CARE HEALTH CARE WORKERS HEALTH POLICY DISCUSSIONS HEALTH WORKERS EPIDEMIC DEVELOPMENT GOALS NUMBER OF PEOPLE CATALYST LIFE EXPECTANCY MATERNAL MORTALITY HEALTH SECTOR TRAINING INTERVENTION HEALTH SYSTEMS MIGRATION NURSES MORTALITY RATE HEALTH WORKFORCE VICIOUS CYCLE HEALTH ORGANIZATION GLOBAL HEALTH EPIDEMICS MORTALITY PROGRESS CHILDBIRTH INFANT MORTALITY INFANT WORKERS AGED DOCTOR HIV BASIC NEEDS NATAL CARE NURSE POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER CARE CHILDHOOD HEALTH EFFECTS BIRTHS HEALTH OUTCOMES MEASUREMENT MEASLES POPULATIONS CARE SYSTEMS MALARIA HEALTH COVERAGE POLICY BURDEN OF DISEASE PRIMARY HEALTH CARE FEMALE LITERACY WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION MATERNAL MORTALITY RATIO HEALTH SYSTEM GENERAL HEALTH SYSTEM CHILDREN MORTALITY RATIO DISEASE RISK HUMAN RESOURCES MIDWIVES POVERTY HEALTH EXPENDITURE HEALTH-SYSTEM INFANTS POPULATION STUDENTS POLICY RESEARCH POPULATION DATA WOMEN HOSPITALS HEALTH INTERVENTIONS MATERNAL MORTALITY RATES MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS HEALTH SERVICE INFANT MORTALITY RATE FEMALE INFANT DEATHS NURSING SKILLED ATTENDANTS DEVELOPMENT POLICY Evans, David K. Goldstein, Markus Popova, Anna The Next Wave of Deaths from Ebola? : The Impact of Health Care Worker Mortality |
| geographic_facet |
Africa West Africa Guinea Liberia Sierra Leone |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7344 |
| description |
The ongoing Ebola outbreak in West
Africa has put a huge strain on already weak health systems.
Ebola deaths have been disproportionately concentrated among
health care workers, exacerbating existing skill shortages
in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in a way that will
negatively affect the health of the populations even after
Ebola has been eliminated. This paper combines data on
cumulative health care worker deaths from Ebola, the stock
of health care workers and mortality rates pre-Ebola, and
coefficients that summarize the relationship between health
care workers in a given country and rates of maternal,
infant, and under-five mortality. The paper estimates how
the loss of health care workers to Ebola will likely affect
non-Ebola mortality even after the disease is eliminated. It
then estimates the size of the resource gap that needs to be
filled to avoid these deaths, and to reach the minimum
thresholds of health coverage described in the Millennium
Development Goals. Maternal mortality could increase by 38
percent in Guinea, 74 percent in Sierra Leone, and 111
percent in Liberia due to the reduction in health personnel
caused by the epidemic. This translates to an additional
4,022 women dying per year across the three most affected
countries. To avoid these deaths, 240 doctors, nurses, and
midwives would need to be immediately hired across the three
countries. This is a small fraction of the 43,565 doctors,
nurses, and midwives that would need to be hired to achieve
the adequate health coverage implied by the Millennium
Development Goals. Substantial investment in health systems
is urgently required not only to improve future epidemic
preparedness, but also to limit the secondary health effects
of the current epidemic owing to the depletion of the health workforce. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Evans, David K. Goldstein, Markus Popova, Anna |
| author_facet |
Evans, David K. Goldstein, Markus Popova, Anna |
| author_sort |
Evans, David K. |
| title |
The Next Wave of Deaths from Ebola? : The Impact of Health Care Worker Mortality |
| title_short |
The Next Wave of Deaths from Ebola? : The Impact of Health Care Worker Mortality |
| title_full |
The Next Wave of Deaths from Ebola? : The Impact of Health Care Worker Mortality |
| title_fullStr |
The Next Wave of Deaths from Ebola? : The Impact of Health Care Worker Mortality |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Next Wave of Deaths from Ebola? : The Impact of Health Care Worker Mortality |
| title_sort |
next wave of deaths from ebola? : the impact of health care worker mortality |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2015 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/07/24652897/next-wave-deaths-ebola-impact-health-care-worker-mortality http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22147 |
| _version_ |
1764450283388141568 |