Did you know? Africa is projected to face a shortage of 5.85 million health workers by 2030 — yet around 943,000 trained health workers were unemployed in 2024.
Did you know?
Africa is projected to face a shortage of 5.85 million health workers by 2030 — yet around 943,000 trained health workers were unemployed in 2024.
How can a continent have both a shortage of health workers and hundreds of thousands of trained professionals without jobs?
This is one of the most important questions raised by the WHO’s State of the Health Workforce in Africa 2026.
And perhaps it tells us something important about how we should think about strengthening healthcare systems in Africa.
The challenge is not simply about having more health workers.
It is about having the right skills, in the right places, with the right opportunities to learn, practise, specialise and grow.
That is where capacity building becomes so important.
And it is why I believe that, alongside equipment, infrastructure and technology, investment in people must become a much bigger part of healthcare partnerships in Africa.
Because a machine can be donated.
But the ability to use that machine effectively, interpret its results, maintain it and integrate it into clinical practice has to be built.
Equipment can strengthen a hospital.
People strengthen a health system.
This is the thinking behind Panacea Institute for Clinical Excellence (PICE).
Our focus is on building long-term educational partnerships between African healthcare institutions and experienced Indian clinicians, hospitals and academic institutions — through CME programmes, specialist masterclasses, clinical case discussions, tumour boards, tele-education, technical training, fellowships, observerships and knowledge exchange.
The objective is not simply to transfer knowledge to Africa.
It is to build capability with African institutions.
Because the real measure of a successful healthcare partnership should not only be:
“What did we give?”
It should also be:
“What capability did we leave behind?”
That, in my view, is where sustainable healthcare transformation begins.
The goal should not be to create dependence.
The goal should be to create capability.
At PICE, we are keen to work with hospitals, universities, professional associations, healthcare groups and development organisations that want to explore meaningful India–Africa educational and capacity-building partnerships.
If this is a conversation your institution is interested in, I would be happy to connect.
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