Building and retaining the neglected anaesthesia health workforce: is it crucial for health systems strengthening through primary health care?

Building and retaining the neglected anaesthesia health workforce: is it crucial for health systems strengthening through primary health care? Meena Cherian, Shelly Choo, Iain Wilson, Luc Noel, Mubashar Sheikh, Manuel Dayrit & Steffen Groth a Essential Health Technologies Department, World Health Organization, 20 avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. b Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States of America. c World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists, London, England. d Health Workforce Alliance, World Health Organization, 20 avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. e Human Resources for Health Department, World Health Organization, 20 avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. Correspondence to Meena Cherian (e-mail: [email protected]). (Submitted: 30 September 2009 – Revised version received: 7 November 2009 – Accepted: 18 November 2009 – Published online: 10 May 2010)