Staff Reporter
THE Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr. Esperance Luvindao, has pledged to tackle workforce maldistribution in public health facilities, with a focus on ensuring competent staff are available—especially in rural and remote areas.
The minister made these remarks at the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Policy launch, where she highlighted that addressing workforce imbalances is a key priority of the policy.
“The UHC Policy underscores the urgency of addressing workforce maldistribution. Under this pillar, we will invest in specialized training, equitable deployment, and effective retention strategies – especially for staff serving in rural and remote areas – to ensure the right people with the right competencies are in the right places. We envision a healthcare workforce that is motivated, skilled, and committed to providing the best possible care to all Namibians,” she said.
LAUNCH: Scenes from the launch of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Policy. Photos: Ministry of Health.
Luvindao added that this is just one of several core objectives of the UHC Policy. She revealed that the policy also aims to strengthen disease prevention and control, and improve maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition.
“We focus on improving maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition. We will intensify disease prevention and control efforts, expanding access to quality promotive, preventive, curative, palliative, and rehabilitative services – especially for poor and rural communities, as demanded by the principle of equity. For instance, we will strengthen our outreach programs to ensure that even the most remote communities have access to essential health services,” she added.
Luvindao revealed that, as part of this policy, the ministry also intends to modernize infrastructure, transport, and medical equipment, while accelerating the digital transformation of health information systems.
“We will modernize our health infrastructure, fleet, and equipment; accelerate the digitalization of our health information systems; and establish a robust medicines and medical supplies supply chain. We are equally committed to strengthening governance and advancing towards the establishment of an independent health regulatory agency to safeguard quality and safety – a key reform under the UHC Policy. Imagine a system where patient records are easily accessible to healthcare providers, regardless of location, allowing for more informed and efficient care,” the minister added.
