Brain drain and health professionals

doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7336.499

BMJ 2002;324:499-500 ( 2 March )

Editorials

Brain drain and health professionals

A global problem needs global solutions

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Migration of medical professionals from developing countries has become a major concern. This brain drain worsens the alreadydepleted healthcare resources in poor countries and widens thegap in health inequities worldwide. It is time that internationalorganisations collaborated to protect the value of this "intellectualproperty": where medical professionals cannot be dissuaded frommoving, the country that trained them should at least gain fromtheirmovement.

In Africa alone, where health needs and problems are greatest, around 23 000 qualified academic professionals emigrate annually.¹Information from South African medical schools suggests that athird to a half of its graduates emigrate to the developed world.²The loss of nurses has been even more extreme $---$ for example, morethan 150 000 Filipino nurses³ and 18 000 Zimbabwean nurses⁴work abroad. A recent report from the United Kingdom estimatedthat 31% of its doctors and 13% of its nurses are born overseas;in London . . . [Full text of this article]

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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Brain drain: Sri S Varman
bmj.com, 1 Mar 2002 [Full text]
Next door brain drain: Patricio Herrera
bmj.com, 2 Mar 2002 [Full text]
Brain drain: Thein H Oo
bmj.com, 3 Mar 2002 [Full text]
State ownership of health professional's intellect?: David I Stein
bmj.com, 3 Mar 2002 [Full text]
does your bathtub have a hole in it?: Kevin P Gattey
bmj.com, 3 Mar 2002 [Full text]
Suction rather than Drainage: Jane RICHARDS, et al.
bmj.com, 4 Mar 2002 [Full text]
Professionals or Guinea Pigs ?: Dr.Anand R T
bmj.com, 4 Mar 2002 [Full text]
Commonwealth Secretariat on Migration ofHealth Workers: Eileen O'Keefe, et al.
bmj.com, 5 Mar 2002 [Full text]
Exeunt omnes?: Peter Davies
bmj.com, 5 Mar 2002 [Full text]
Re: Suction rather than Drainage: Kevin P Gattey
bmj.com, 5 Mar 2002 [Full text]
The cost of brain drainage: Praitk Choudhary
bmj.com, 5 Mar 2002 [Full text]
Trained to become Westernized: Guillermo A Herrera Taracena
bmj.com, 6 Mar 2002 [Full text]
No to trade in medical personnel: John Hilary
bmj.com, 6 Mar 2002 [Full text]
Brain Drain: Not Just a Health Issue: Adnan A Hyder, et al.
bmj.com, 8 Mar 2002 [Full text]
A Relocation not brain drain?: John Kiwanuka Ssemakula
bmj.com, 9 Mar 2002 [Full text]
YES, BUT WHERE DO THEY GO?: Andres de Francisco, et al.
bmj.com, 14 Mar 2002 [Full text]
Brain Drain or Globalisation Effect?: Fazleh A Mahomed
bmj.com, 4 Apr 2002 [Full text]
Draining Brain is worse,than Brain Drain: Paras Kumar Pokharel
bmj.com, 27 Jul 2002 [Full text]
Re: Brain drain is good for the developed but not for the developing countries: Mohan R Sharma
bmj.com, 29 Jul 2002 [Full text]
Brain Drain: Leveling the Field: Mararike Munoda
bmj.com, 1 Jan 2006 [Full text]