UNGA 80

A fantastic few days moderating "Health Without Borders" for the Saudi Commission for Health Specialities. First up, what a venue in the heart of Manhattan at Cipriani 42nd Street. I worked alongside incredible colleagues at Devex who pulled the whole event together (at relatively short notice and all while their own multi-day event was taking place across town!). It was such a privilege to engage in thought-provoking, timely and detailed conversations with WHO, PAHO, EIB... honestly too many acronyms to name them all ;)

I was also thrilled that my friend, Elly Nott from the David Nott Foundation was in town to address the health credentials across borders and their relevance in crisis/conflict environments.

Fundamentally the question posed by the Saudi Commission was: How can we build a resilient and sustainable global health workforce of the future when all signs are pointing to a 11-million shortfall in global health professionals by 2030? How can we harmonise credentials so that health workers can cross borders and work where they want to work and where their skills are needed most?

It's complex, some might say risky, but one of the phrases that struck with me was this: wherever you are in the world, whatever your circumstances, we all want the same things from our physicians...

• Please don't hurt me

• Please heal me

• Please be nice to me

Simple, right? At the very least it seems like a good place to start when we're trying to build the foundations of a global, mobile, quality-assured health workforce.