Health in Africa: There is more to the crisis

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7526.1203-d

BMJ 2005;331:1203-1204 (19 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7526.1203-d

Letter

Health in Africa

There is more to the crisis

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

EDITOR—The human resources crisis addressed by Lucas raisesconcern.¹ For some time the notion has prevailed that institutinglocal incentives—local postgraduate training, subsidisedhousing, subsidised means of transportation, etc—mighthelp stem the trend of mass migration of personnel. Ghana wasmentioned by Lucas as an example of a country that has beenrelatively successful in that light. As a Ghanaian, having workedin Ghana and international health, as well as mingling withvarious migrant African professionals overseas, I find the suggestionsand solutions too simplistic.

Despite all the effort, successive governments have tried toretain professionals, especially health professionals. A recentWorld Bank publication and a follow-up Ghanaian news commentaryon the publication indicated that on average 45% plus of qualifiedGhanaian tertiary level graduates have left the country, andcontinue to do so.^2
3 Many were educated with state funds.

Many educated indigenous Africans contribute to the crisis.. . . [Full text of this article]

Albert M E Coleman, associate specialist psychiatrist

Greenacres Community Mental Health Trust, Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust, Worthing, West Sussex BN11 2DH albert.coleman@gmail.com