The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has called for reliable data on health training institutions across West Africa to strengthen workforce planning and improve the region’s health systems.
ECOWAS President, Mr Bassirou Faye, represented by Prof. Awa Seck, a Senegalese infectious diseases specialist, made the call at a regional workshop to finalise the mapping of health training institutions on Thursday in Abuja.
He said the exercise would provide a comprehensive understanding of existing training capacities, institutional resources and development opportunities across ECOWAS member states.
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Faye said reliable and updated information was essential to addressing persistent challenges in health workforce development and ensuring professionals acquired the competencies required to meet population needs.
He emphasised that beyond increasing the number of health professionals, the region must prioritise training personnel with appropriate skills to address its healthcare needs.
“The mapping exercise will provide a foundation for evidence-based human resource planning and enable member states to understand their respective training capacities,” Faye said.
He expressed confidence that the expertise assembled at the workshop would generate useful exchanges and strategic recommendations to strengthen health professional education across the region.
The ECOWAS president commended the West African Health Organization (WAHO) for its leadership, technical coordination and commitment to completing the regional mapping exercise.
He also appreciated the Nigerian Government for its commitment to regional integration and support for hosting the workshop.
Similarly, the Regional Council for Health Professionals Education urged participants to ensure accurate data collection and identify gaps in health training institutions to strengthen healthcare delivery across West Africa.
The President-Elect of the council, Prof. John Mulba, said the mapping exercise was necessary to identify existing constraints in healthcare delivery and establish an evidence-based database to guide institutional planning and decision-making.
He explained that the findings would help strengthen service delivery, provide a clearer picture of available training opportunities and support informed decisions by relevant institutions.
Mulba urged participants to approach the exercise with honesty, transparency and commitment, emphasising that the quality of the findings would determine the usefulness of the final outcome.
He said effective planning required identifying possible challenges, considering alternatives and making deliberate decisions to strengthen existing health training and service delivery systems.
The council’s president-elect commended WAHO for its leadership and financial commitment to strengthening the regional health workforce, while appreciating Nigeria for hosting the participants.
Also speaking, Prof. Yao Tettey, representing the colleges, said the mapping exercise would help health professionals identify accredited institutions within the sub-region where they could pursue further training without travelling outside West Africa.
He explained that inadequate information about available postgraduate training opportunities could contribute to the movement of health workers outside the region in search of professional development.
According to him, publishing a comprehensive database of recognised institutions will enable professionals to identify suitable training opportunities across member states.
Tettey urged participants to encourage recognised institutions to obtain national accreditation and subsequently secure regional accreditation from WAHO to promote wider recognition of their qualifications.
“Regional accreditation will address employers’ concerns about certificates from unfamiliar institutions and strengthen confidence in professional qualifications obtained within the sub-region.
“Harmonising training curricula and procedures is already part of efforts to facilitate the movement of health professionals across West Africa,” he said.
He urged participants, regulators, country teams, and academic and professional institutions to ensure comprehensive work that would support professional mobility and continuous skills development.
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