How many health professionals do 10,000 people need?

The WHO suggests that the critical threshold is 23 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 head of population.  Of their 49 priority low-income countries, only 45 cross this threshold.  Instead of 23, Liberia has 3.

Purely looking at doctor numbers, Liberia has 0.3 per 10,000 head of population.  Which is why the work that MCAI (www.mcai.org.uk) is doing to train midwives and neonatal nurses in extended roles is so important.  We are looking forward to playing our part with this when we return to Liberia in November 2019 to teach the first Generic Instructor Course and 4 more Newborn Care Courses.