The promise of higher salaries and better working conditions lures about 20,000 African nurses and other health-care workers annually to richer countries. The brain drain makes it even harder for African countries to treat diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which kill millions each year, experts say. But with the United States facing its own nursing shortage, some on Capitol Hill want to make it easier for foreign nurses to immigrate to America. The article describes policies that have facilitated this change.
Human Resources
Nurses leave, health care in Africa suffers
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Bengali S
Retaining health workers in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) statement on World Health Day recognized that realization of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health remains a daily struggle for all health workers in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean health delivery sector is presently in a severe state with a massive exodus of qualified health workers, resulting from many factors, amongst them poor remuneration and lack of basic medical equipment necessary for health workers to satisfactorily carry out their work.
Further details: /newsletter/id/31476
SA's medical brain drain at crisis point
Cape Argus/IOL: Govender S
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang early in April began World Health Day celebrations with the launch of the new Human Resources (HR) Health Plan, which is meant to help combat the rapidly increasing migration of doctors. The section in the HR plan for health dealing with the migration of health personnel showed that 23 407 South African-born health professionals were now working in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States alone.
South African government launches health resources plan
I-Africa
Proposals on increasing the number of health workers in South Africa and new rules on the hiring of foreign workers in this field form part of the National Human Resource Plan for Health launched early in April on World Health Day. According to the plan, on the Department of Health's website, proposed staff increases include increasing the current newly-qualified 1200 medical practitioners per year to 2400 by 2014, staff nurses from 5000 to 8000 by 2008 and pharmacists from 400 to 600.
Southern Africa: Working together for health
Pambazuka News
It is ironic to be talking of working together for health in southern Africa - a region faced with chronic shortages of health workers as a result of massive brain drain, inadequate drugs, inadequate and chronic shortage of infrastructure and equipment. Working together for health was this year’s theme for World Health Day, commemorated on the 7th of April. Yet the authors further discuss the disheartening fact that little was said in southern Africa for World Health Day.
The global migration of nurses: importing skills, exporting shortages
id21health
Research by the World Health Organisation explores the international migration of nurses and the implications for five countries: Australia, Ireland, Norway, the UK and the USA. The flow of nurses to these countries has risen during the 1990s, and, in some cases, recruitment is from developing countries. In this article the researchers propose a number of policy options to manage nurse migration and make a number of recommendations for improving workforce data systems.
WHO's 2006 World health report a disappointment
Lancet: Samarasekera, U
While the World Health Organization's focus on human resources for health in its 2006 World Health Report (WHR) is welcome, the lack of detailed data in the report is disappointing, states an editorial in this week's issue of The Lancet. The author explains how ".....[it] shows just how much of a gap exists between current knowledge and what is necessary to inform policymaking."
WHO/WFME strategic partnership to improve medical education
World Health Organisation
WHO and the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) propose a strategic partnership to pursue a long-term work plan - open to participation by all medical schools and other educational providers - intended to have a decisive impact on medical education in particular and ultimately on health professions education in general. The WHO/WFME work plan will benefit from the accumulated experience and assets of each partner.
World Health Day: Chronic deficit of health workers
Inter Press Service News Agency: Capdevila G
There is a critical shortage of health workers - doctors, nurses and lab technicians - in poor countries, which most desperately need them. This was the warning given by the World Health Organisation warned in its annual report on global health problems.
World Health Day: Kenyan medics deplore low pay, scarce incentives
IPS News Agency: Mulama J
As the international community prepared to commemorate this year’s World Health Day on April 7, the issue of poor remuneration for health workers in Kenya were being debated. The pay for doctors and other health care givers in the public service is so low that many of these people could not devote their full time to public service. This forms the basis of the argument for improving remuneration packages for Kenyan doctors.