A review of the 2030 Human Resources for Health Strategy and Vision: Goals and their implications for dentistry

The South African National Department of Health(NDoH) released a report in March 2020: “2030 Human Resources for Health (HRH) Strategy: Investing in the Health Workforce for Universal Health Coverage”. The aim was to analyse the five National Health Goals for 2030 with reference to the impact they could have on dentistry in South Africa. This was an independent review of the HRH strategic document with inputs from three specialists in Community Dentistry. The views are that of the authors and not necessarily from the report itself. The strategic document comprised of five goals and each goal’s objectives implication to dentistry was analysed based on the SMART criteria. Some of the goals are being attained but to meet the remaining goals, government has to increase its commitment to improving oral health. More posts in the public sector needs to be created, managerial posts need to be filled by community dentistry specialists, current managers need to be upskilled, the number of mid-level workers (MWs) posts (oral hygienists and dental therapists) need to be increased and the MWs financial package needs to be improved. The tertiary institutions need to train oral health workers who are aligned with the oral disease burden, introduce careerpathways for MWs and assist in supporting oral health research and training of oral health managers. In terms of oral health, there is an urgent need to determine and align the disease burden and these goals. There should be an increase in the number of MWs, existing managers need to be upskilled, and adverts for managerial posts need to have clear criteria for the required skills.