•HRES 734 IH 
health workers, who are the backbone of effective health 
systems; 
Whereas frontline health workers provide families with access 
to a range of simple, affordable, life-saving care to help 
prevent and treat infections, improve nutrition, increase 
coverage of vaccines, ensure healthy outcomes for moth-
ers and newborns, and fight diseases like tuberculosis, 
malaria, and HIV; 
Whereas frontline health workers deliver advice and services 
to patients in their homes and in clinics, serving as 
councilors, educators, and treatment providers, and are 
the first and often the only point of contact to the health 
care system for millions of people, especially in remote 
and rural areas; 
Whereas, according to the World Health Organization, there 
are 57 countries with critical health workforce shortages, 
most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, 
regions that also have the greatest share of the global 
disease burden and the highest number of preventable 
deaths; 
Whereas, despite the key role of frontline health workers, the 
World Health Organization estimates a shortage of at 
least 1 million frontline health workers to achieve the 
2015 Millennium Development Goals; 
Whereas the impact of investments in frontline health work-
ers has been well documented, such as in Ethiopia where 
a commitment to investing in frontline health workers led 
to a doubling of the rates of young children who have 
been immunized, treated for pneumonia, and been given 
Vitamin A to prevent blindness, and in Malawi, where 
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•HRES 734 IH 
under-5 child deaths have been reduced 59 percent since 
1990; 
Whereas partnerships with the private sector in training, 
equipping, and deploying frontline health workers have 
helped countries achieve progress on global health goals; 
Whereas, despite gains in access to health care, 1 billion of 
the world’s nearly 7 billion people will never visit a health 
worker, including 350 million children; 
Whereas every day more than 20,000 children in the devel-
oping world perish, mostly from preventable causes, and 
800 women die due to pregnancy complications, and 
every year, millions of adults succumb to the ravages of 
AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other treatable and pre-
ventable chronic diseases; 
Whereas the presence of trained and supported frontline 
health workers is key to the success of United States 
global health programs and, in particular, key to reduc-
ing maternal and child deaths, as they are one of the 
most cost-effective ways to save lives; 
Whereas training frontline health workers helps to develop 
sustainable local capacity and strengthens and rebuilds 
health systems in a country because frontline health 
workers are drawn from the communities they serve and 
are less likely to migrate than higher skilled categories of 
health workers; and 
Whereas, despite the importance of health workers to success-
ful implementation of United States global health pro-
grams and to improved health outcomes for those served 
by these programs, the United States does not have a 
comprehensive health workforce strategy: Now, therefore, 
be it 
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•HRES 734 IH 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) reaffirms the important role of frontline 
health workers in saving lives and fostering a 
healthier, more secure, and more prosperous world; 
(2) commends the progress made by the United 
States in helping to build local capacity and to save 
lives in the world’s most vulnerable communities by 
training and supporting frontline health care work-
ers; and 
(3) calls on all relevant Federal agencies, in-
cluding the United States Agency for International 
Development, the Department of State, and the Cen-
ters for Disease Control and Prevention, to develop 
a coordinated and comprehensive health workforce 
strengthening strategy for increasing equitable ac-
cess to qualified health workers in developing coun-
tries, particularly in underserved areas, with a stra-
tegic focus on frontline health workers. 
Æ 
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