Expansion of the Health Workforce and the HIV Epidemic

To the Editor: Samb and colleagues (Dec. 13, 2007, issue) 1 call attention to the critical topic of shortages of health care workers in the developing world. One proposed solution involves shifting medical tasks to less skilled workers and laypersons. We are concerned that the rush to the bandwagon of “task shifting” takes the emphasis off the need to improve the jobs of health care workers in countries with severe epidemics of human immunodeficiency virus infection and AIDS (HIV/AIDS) and tuberculosis. Our study involving South African nurses showed that working conditions and financial concerns were driving migration. 2 As part of a . . .