This report describes the exodus of healthcare workers from areas of poverty and low socio-economic development, to more highly developed areas. The flows follow a hierarchy of ‘wealth’ and result in a global conveyor belt of health personnel moving from the bottom to the top, increasing inequity. The report describes personnel flows and migration from rural to urban areas, from public to private sectors, from lower to higher income countries within southern Africa and from African countries to industrialized countries. The report describes a variety of push and pull factors that impact on the movement of healthcare professionals.
Human Resources
Health Personnel in Southern Africa: Confronting Maldistribution and Brain Drain
Equinet, Health Systems Trust and Medact 2003
Trends In International Nurse Migration
Predicted shortages and recruitment targets for nurses in developed countries threaten to deplete nurse supply and undermine global health initiatives in developing countries. A twofold approach is required, involving greater diligence by developing countries in creating a largely sustainable domestic nurse workforce and their greater investment through international aid in building nursing education capacity in the less developed countries that supply them with nurses.
Africa needs 100,000 health workers to distribute AIDS drugs
At least 100,000 health workers are needed to distribute anti-AIDS drugs in Africa, where 70 percent of the world's HIV/AIDS sufferers live, the head of the World Health OrganiSation said Wednesday. "It's difficult to grasp the magnitude of the problem," Dr. Lee Jong-Wook said while visiting Singapore. "The 8,000 people dying every day from AIDS is equivalent to 30 jumbo jets crashing every day." The WHO's aim to provide 3 million HIV-infected people in Africa with the latest available drugs by the end of 2005 was achievable if workers are found to deliver the drugs, Lee said.
International Nurse Mobility: Trends and Policy Implications
This report examines the trends and policy issues relating to the international mobility of one key group of knowledge workers: nurses. The increase in 'knowledge worker' migration, partly as a result of developed countries attempting to solve skill shortages by recruiting from developing countries, is a key component of current international migration patterns. The report examines trends in international recruitment and migration of nurses. It uses data from professional registers and censuses to examine the scale of the movement of nurses. Core data from a selection of five 'destination countries' is used to track trends from source countries. The five destination countries are Australia, Ireland, Norway, UK and USA. Information is also assessed from four 'source' areas - the Caribbean, Ghana, South Africa and the Philippines.
The role of wages in the migration of health care professionals from developing countries
Several countries are increasingly relying on immigration as a means of coping with domestic shortages of health care professionals. This trend has led to concerns that in many of the source countries - especially within Africa - the outflow of health care professionals is adversely affecting the health care system. This paper examines the role of wages in the migration decision and discusses the likely effect of wage increases in source countries in slowing migration flows.
Training health service staff in developing countries
The quality of health care is hugely dependent on the skills of health professionals. Clinical skills centres are neutral and protected settings in which a variety of skills and techniques can be taught. In developing countries, resource constraints and pressure to direct skilled staff away from teaching to working in health service facilities can limit the opportunities for developing and implementing an effective training curriculum.
Examining Prevalence of HIV in Workforces in Southern Africa
The authors surveyed workforces in southern Africa to determine HIV prevalence among formally employed, largely male populations. Voluntary, anonymous, unlinked seroprevalence surveys of 34 workforces with 44 000 employees were carried out in South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia in 2000-2001. Average HIV prevalence for the entire sample was 16.6%. Country-wide prevalence was 14.5% in South Africa, 17.9% in Zambia, and 24.6% in Botswana.
Human capacity-building plan for scaling up HIV/AIDS treatment
In order to meet the target of delivering simplified, standardised antiretroviral treatment services to 3 million people by the end of 2005, it is estimated that up to 100,000 people need to be trained. These figures include those involved in managing and delivering antiretroviral treatment services; those working on testing and counselling and other entry points to antiretroviral treatment; and community treatment supporters assisting people who are receiving medication. This document from the World Health Organization (WHO) outlines their strategic plan to support the development, strengthening and sustaining of the workforce.
Impact of HIV/AIDS on SA health sector is severe, says study
South Africa's health sector stands to lose a large percentage of its workforce to HIV/AIDS, warns a report by the country's Human Sciences Research Council and the Medical University of South Africa. The study was conducted in four South African provinces - KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Mpumalanga and North West. "We found that an estimated 15.7 percent of health workers employed in the public and private health facilities located [in the four provinces] were living with HIV/AIDS in 2002," the report said.
Policy responses to skilled migration: Retention, return and circulation
This paper looks at different possible policy responses to the emigration of highly skilled persons from developing countries (the brain drain) with the goal of minimising its adverse effects and promoting the sharing of gains between source and host countries. It focuses on three policy approaches: retention, return and circulation of skills. It argues that the best strategy to deal with the problem of loss of skilled labour is one based on the concept of circulation of skills, which yields mutual benefits for both sending and host countries.