“The global health workforce has expanded since 1990, mainly due to an increase in female health workers, according to a study published online Aug. 18 in The Lancet Public Health.

Megan Knight, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, and colleagues describe the composition and density of health workers by sex among 20 cadres for 204 countries and territories during 1990 to 2023. Overall, 1,816 country-years of data from population-based surveys, 82 from censuses, 3,888 from administrative sources, and 96 from scientific literature were used.

The researchers found there were 122.1 million health workers across 20 cadres in 2023, representing an increase of 81.2 million (198.5 percent) relative to 1990; the number included 15.1 million doctors, 33.2 million nurses, 2.4 million midwives, and 7.6 million community health workers (CHWs).”

From HealthDay.