A review of codes and protocols for the migration of health workers

This Equinet paper reviews current multi-lateral, bilateral and regional agreements, Codes of practice, strategies and position statements that govern the migration of health workers from East and Southern African countries. It finds that despite renewed international interest in the ethics of recruiting health workers from poor countries, current frameworks and Codes have clearly been unable to stem the tide of workers flowing to the North. This is partly because the instruments that are being used are voluntary and not legally binding and no formally constituted bodies exist to perform the role of watchdog for countries that have subscribed to these instruments.

The authors recommend that in order to develop more effective instruments for the ethical recruitment of health workers, the relevant countries and international organisations should implement strategies to mitigate the factors pushing health workers out of their home countries, and should implement codes of practice that address country-specific or region specific needs. They also stress the importance of building North-South collaborations to move the agenda for ethical recruitment ahead. [adapted from author]