Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41780147›Full record

ArticleHealth policy (Amsterdam, Netherlands)2026

Health security needs a European health and care workforce strategy, and it needs it now.

Ellen Kuhlmann, Tiago Correia, Katarzyna Czabanowska, Michelle Falkenbach, Marius-Ionuț Ungureanu, Matthias Wismar, Tomas Zapata

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Health policy (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Ellen KuhlmannInstitute for Economics, Labour and Culture (IWAK), Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany; WHO Collaborating Center for Health Workforce Policies and Planning, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal. Electronic address: e.kuhlmann@em.uni-frankfurt.de.
Tiago CorreiaWHO Collaborating Center for Health Workforce Policies and Planning, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal; Global Health and Tropical Medicine, GHTM, Associate Laboratory in Translation and Innovation Towards Global Health, LA-REAL, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, IHMT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, UNL, Portugal. Electronic address: tiago.correia@ihmt.unl.pt.
Katarzyna CzabanowskaDepartment of International Health, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; WHO Collaborating Center for Public Health Leadership and Workforce Development, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands. Electronic address: kasia.czabanowska@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
Michelle FalkenbachEuropean Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels, Belgium; Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Abor MI, USA. Electronic address: falkenbachm@obs.who.int.
Marius-Ionuț UngureanuDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy, Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Electronic address: marius.ungureanu@publichealth.ro.
Matthias WismarEuropean Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: wismarm@obs.who.int.
Tomas ZapataWorld Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: zapatat@who.int.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Europe is currently facing novel security threats in many different areas, reinforcing the need for a well prepared and protected health and care workforce to ensure health system resilience and service provision for the population under conditions of a poly-crisis. However, the health and care workforce is weakened by persisting shortages, competency gaps and mismatches, and poor working and mental health conditions. Health and care workers are not prepared for yet another crisis and a systematic strategy is lacking. This policy commentary argues for health and care workforce preparedness and protection as a structural pillar and integral part of an emerging EU health and security landscape, calling for a coherent European Union strategy and highlighting capacities for implementation and co-benefits for democratic societies and economies. Key policy recommendations include: developing a coordinated EU strategy that is capable to protect, prepare and retain health and care workers; closing the competencies gaps to align preparedness for military aggression, cyberattacks, climate change, and new infectious diseases; investing in research and data spaces to strengthen evidence-based information and policy; creating governance structures and building on existing EU programs and budgets to freeing resources for the health and care workforce.

Indexed as

Health PersonnelHealth WorkforceSecurity MeasuresEuropeEuropean UnionHealth PolicyHumansPublic Health InfrastructureEuropean union strategyHealth and care workforceHealth securityHealth workforce crisis strategyHealth workforce preparedness

Identifiers

PMID41780147
PMCPMC12993810

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.