A medical resident in the South Pacific is on track to become the first dermatologist to serve the Solomon Islands after graduating in 2026. This milestone for the nation of 800,000 people reflects a broader international effort to improve access to skin care.

Dermatologists gathered in Fiji in late May to support the resident’s regional training program and learned that the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva had unanimously passed a resolution to support global skin health.

“We’re here 2 days after the resolution passed, already implementing it,” said Claire Fuller, a London-based consultant dermatologist and chair of the International League of Dermatological Societies (ILDS). “The timing is fantastic.”

Addressing Global Disparities in Dermatological Care

The resolution addresses meaningful disparities in dermatological care worldwide.

“We’re here 2 days after the resolution passed,already implementing it. The timing is fantastic.”

Esther Freeman, MD, PhD, associate professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School and director of Global Health Dermatology at Massachusetts General hospital, noted that Africa and the Pacific islands have very few dermatologists per capita. “Many countries have zero dermatologists. There are two dermatologists in Papua New guinea for 10 million people,” she said.

At the Society for Investigative Dermatology meeting in San Diego, Dr. Freeman highlighted other disparities,such as the lack of sunscreen for people with albinism in parts of Africa and the high cost of eczema treatments. In Australia, only a handful of dermatologists serve rural areas.

She estimates that at least a billion patients worldwide lack access to dermatological care, with many more unable to afford it.

The WHO’s “Skin Diseases as a Global Public Health Priority” resolution,proposed by the Ivory Coast and supported by several other nations,aims to implement a coordinated global strategy through programs like the Pacific Dermatology Training Center in Fiji.

José Ruiz Postigo, MD, PhD, a Neglected tropical Diseases medical officer with WHO, stated that the resolution, though lacking direct funding, is transformative because it provides a high-level mandate. “When you approach someone at a ministry of health and they ask why you are doing this, to what extent is this a priority, you show them the resolution,” he said.

The Goals of the WHO Resolution

A primary goal is to expand dermatology training programs globally, such as the Pacific Dermatology Training Center in Fiji, wich is the first of its kind in the Pacific islands and will graduate three Fijians as the region’s first dermatologists.

This center, backed by a 5-year ILDS agreement, mirrors successful programs in other regions, like the one in Tanzania serving 16 African countries.

Fuller emphasized that training extends beyond producing dermatologists: “80% of dermatology burden is caused by about 10 diseases. We’ve got an achievable curriculum, and we can train community frontline workers on these 10 diseases.”

Freeman concurred, noting that focusing on a limited number of diseases is more manageable. “We definitely need dermatologists to train the trainers, but they’re not the only key players. We’ll never have enough dermatologists,” she said. “Using Papua New Guinea as an example, we need to acknowledge who’s on the ground. It could be nurses,medical officers,pharmacists. There’s a lot of different cadres of health workers, and this gives us an possibility to think about the big picture of how we treat people on the front line.”

Encouraging Investment in Skin Health

the resolution encourages member states to increase investment in skin health, even without direct funding allocation.

“We in the dermatology community can go to WHO members and say, ‘You signed up for this resolution, how can we help you deliver it?'” Fuller said. “We’re not waiting for governments to just act on this; we’re going to help them do it.”

the resolution also facilitates nongovernmental funding. “Everyone can go to a donor, a university, and say ‘look, in view of this resolution, we want to do this, but we need money.’ It’s something concrete to point to.” It also directs WHO to develop internal dermatological resources,addressing the current lack of a dedicated dermatology department.

The ultimate aim, she added, is to ensure that “access to dermatological care is a standard: Any person with a common skin disease would be able to go to their frontline healthcare provider and get it addressed, and there would be specialist services available to refer to when needed.”