Density of nurses and midwives in sub-Saharan Africa: Trends analysis over the period 2004-2016.

Background Nursing, the largest health care workforce, is actively contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The African continent is one of the most affected areas by the differences in the density of nurses and midwives indicator. Aim To analyse the trends of density rates of nurses and midwives per population in sub-Saharan Africa over the period from 2004 to 2016. Methods Joinpoint regression analysis was applied to identify significant changes in trends of the density of nurses and midwives from the 50 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Results From 2004 to 2013, the density of nurses and midwives in sub-Saharan Africa increased significantly from 5.6 to 12.44 per 10,000 population, while it exhibited a increasing trend of a magnitude of 8.3% until 2013 that does not continue from that year. Conclusions Only seven countries show an increasing trend, while in the case of the rest, they do not present any trend that suggests a change in this indicator in the short term. Implications for nursing management From a macro-level nursing management point of view, our study shows the importance of implementing actions that contribute to the increase of the nursing workforce in Africa, essential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.