The public health workforce in sub-Saharan Africa: challenges and opportunities.

The health crisis in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) presents enormous challenges to the public health workforce, which is ill equipped to respond. Since the fate of SSA is central to the health and well-being of all regions, a long-term effort is now required to strengthen the public health workforce in SSA. This will require major support from national governments and a wide variety of international agencies. Several global initiatives present an opportunity for SSA to mount a response to the health crisis. However, unless these resources contribute to the development of infrastructure, human capacity, and management processes, the response is likely to have only a short-term impact on the most pressing health problems.