Supporting the Scale-Up of HIV Care and Treatment through Human Resources for Health Interventions in Côte d’Ivoire

Authors: Kate Greene

Although Côte d’Ivoire has seen an overall downward trend in HIV prevalence rates over the past decade thanks to more robust and effective HIV/AIDS prevention programming, over 50 percent of adults and children who are HIV-positive have yet to receive antiretroviral therapy, according to UNAIDS estimates. Inadequate numbers of health workers, as well as their uneven distribution throughout the country, are significant barriers to the scale-up of HIV treatment. Côte d’Ivoire has experienced a marked increase in the number of doctors and nurses in the last decade, but the number of midwives has decreased. Moreover, the country has only 48 percent of the maternal and newborn health workforce it needs. In addition to these challenges facing the existing health workforce, the pre-service training institutions preparing Côte d’Ivoire’s next generation of health workers are coping with outdated facilities and curricula.

In response to these health workforce issues, USAID’s Health Finance & Governance project (HFG) has worked with Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Health (MSLS) to plan and implement human resources for health (HRH) interventions at the national and institutional levels.