Health Careers and Human Health Resource Planning
The Challenge
The number of Aboriginal women pursuing post secondary education currently exceeds that within any other sector of the Canadian population. However there is a crisis looming in the number graduating with degrees in the health care field. Canada is experiencing a severe shortage in the number of health care providers. The Canadian Medical Association predicts the shortages will likely “intensify in the future, with a projected 33% decrease in the overall supply of Canadian physicians, due to physician attrition and lack of adequate replacement by recent graduates.” (CMA, 2009) Further, the health care system is not meeting the needs of Canadians and to a greater degree the needs of Aboriginal people. These and other factors underpin the government’s need to develop more effective long term human health resource planning. Part of this vision targets Aboriginal people, as an insofar untapped resource to fill the gaps in the health care profession.
The Program
The Federal Government asserts that by increasing the number of Aboriginal people taking up health careers, health care inequities between Aboriginal people and other Canadians will be reduced. Consequently, $100 million was dedicated to the development and implementation of the Aboriginal Human Health Resource Initiative, or AHHRI, see Health Canada’s Website at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/activit/strateg/ahhri-irrhs-eng.php. The Native Women’s Association of Canada, along with our brother and sister organizations, has been involved with AHHRI since its inception in 2005 and we are now participating in its evaluation. 2010 marks the end of a 5-year commitment he initiative ends this year, however there are indicators it will continue. Aboriginal women in Canada already deliver the vast majority of health care services in their communities. We are Community Health Representatives (CHR’s), Health Managers
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