Corinne Hinlopen

“Health and wealth are incredibly unevenly distributed globally. This is unacceptable, especially in this day and age, where we have committed to the Sustainable Development Goals and have pledged to leave no one behind. We have the money and the means to deliver on our joint Health for All pledge, but the money doesn’t flow naturally to the lowest point where it’s most needed. Instead, it stays in places where it adds little value, and where it often worsens the already existing inequalities.

This is evident, for example, in the Human Resources for Health arena where I work. Richer countries have more money to train and employ health and social workers than poorer countries. They also offer higher salaries and better working conditions than care facilities in lower resource settings. We clearly see how increasing health worker mobility plays out in countries and between countries: the richer regions end up attracting most health workers at the expense of poorer regions – who have invested lots of public money in the training and education of those health workers. This is not just a logical consequence of the free health labour market. It also illustrates the inaction on the part of destination countries to increase their domestic health workforce and their lack of concern for the plight of source countries. This is in stark contrast with the spirit of shared prosperity in the European Union.

Wemos addresses these issues by looking at underlying causes, and by proposing alternative policy options that will help decrease existing inequalities. These alternative options also involve Dutch policies, for example of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. This may sound abstract, but exploring new policy avenues is very satisfying. Working at strengthening systems for better health and health care is quite a niche in the international development arena, and Wemos has shown to be a respected partner, through perseverance and dedication, for 40 years already. I’m proud to contribute to this work!”