Regional Workshop on Human Resources for Health Strengthening Competence and Compassion

Overview

The Regional Workshop on Human Resources for Health: Strengthening Competence and Compassion, co-organized by The Asian Collective for Health Systems (TACHS) and World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) was held from 3-5 July 2025 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The workshop convened over 70 participants including senior government health officials representing Ministry of Health, health professional regulators, academics, technical, developmental and implementing partners from across and beyond South-East Asia Region to address urgent and emerging priorities in Human Resources for Health (HRH) planning, regulation, and cross-country collaboration.

At a pivotal time marked by demographic transition, growing health inequities, rising burdens of non-communicable diseases, and climate-related threats, the workshop aimed to build a regional momentum for strengthening HRH systems that are competent, compassionate, and aligned to evolving health needs. The workshop also marked a moment of reflection, coinciding with the Centenary of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC)- a long-standing institution in health workforce regulation.

The high-level regional engagement was inaugurated by the Additional Secretary of Health, Sri Lanka, alongside leadership of Regional Director of WHO SEARO, President of TACHS.

The overall workshop was framed around general objective of strengthening human resources for health to address evolving population needs, through shared learning and cooperation and specific objectives as follows:

1. To facilitate cross-country learning approaches to strengthen human resources for health, with focus on improving capacity and quality with compassion (clinical and peoplecenteredness).
2. To discuss implications related to the international migration of health workers and facilitate a consultation on the Interim Report of the EAG’s Review of the WHO Global Code of Practice’s Relevance and Effectiveness.
3. To deliberate and consider launch of a South-East Asia Regional Network of Health Professionals Regulators
4. To strengthen complementarity in partner activities related to HRH, aligned with national government vision and priorities.

The two-day meeting was organized in a participatory and interactive format, combining high level keynote addresses, member state led technical sessions, breakout group discussions, and conversational panel. Topics around human resources for health ranged from HRH and its fitness to evolving population needs, quality and accountability of HRH, international migration, southsouth co-operation, and health workforce regulation. Day three included a selection of participants joining the SLMC Centenary Celebrations, offering a platform to learn from past successes, ongoing initiatives of the SLMC.