14 May 2012 – Dr Michael Milly Hussein, Minister of Health, pledged support and commitment for the implementation of the human resources for health policy and strategy of South Sudan. The pledge came during a validation meeting for the policy and strategy in Juba, on 14 May 2012. The validation workshop is part of the process of developing a new human resources for health policy and strategy.

Human resources for health in South Sudan remains a huge challenge. Many gaps in essential staff exist that need to be filled. With the new human resources for health policy, it is envisaged that a systematic and comprehensive approach to addressing the human resources for health challenges in South Sudan will be established. 

In September 2011, WHO in collaboration with the Global Health Workforce Alliance deployed a consultant to lead the process of reviewing and revising the Ministry of Health's human resources for health policy and strategy.  

Through a participatory process, human resources for health stakeholders from the national and state health authorites, nongovernment organizations (international and national) and development partners were brought together under the auspices of the human resources for health technical working group. Between September 2011 to April 2012, consultative meetings, workshops, and virtual dialogue within the human resources for health technical working group culminated in the development of the first draft of the human resources for health policy and strategy 2012–2016.

To ensure that the draft policy and strategy is reflective of the inputs of all stakeholders, the one-day validation meeting was held for all human resources development officers from the 10 states of South Sudan, selected heads of health training institutions as well as partners who were engaged in the initial phase of the development of the policy and strategy. During the meeting consensus was reached on the policy and strategy and remaining gaps identified.

The human resources for health policy and strategy provides the overall guidance and framework for the development and management of the health workforce in order to ensure provision of quality health care for the population. The document is expected to guide human resources for health processes of production, development, recruitment, deployment, planning and management. The completion of the validation exercise is expected in June 2012 and thereafter the Ministry of Health will launch the final document.