bbc news

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An extra four million health workers are needed if global health is going to improve over the next decade, a group of 100 health leaders says.

The study said sub-Sahara Africa needed one million workers to fight conditions such as HIV, Aids, malaria and TB.

One reason for the shortage is that rich nations poach doctors and nurses.

Poor and politically struggling countries had been hit the hardest, making international reinforcement essential, the report, published in the Lancet medical journal, said.

There are more Malawian doctors in the British city of Manchester than in Malawi, the report said, while 550 of the 600 doctors trained in Zambia since independence have gone abroad.

There are estimated to be more than 100 million people working as health professionals across the world - of which 24 million are doctors, nurses and midwives while the rest are community and voluntary workers.

Sub-Saharan Africa has a tenth of the doctors and nurses for its population as Europe does.

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