Migration

Health professionals form the biggest group of skilled migrants. This is facilitated by the fact that within the profession there is a globally shared knowledge base. While some of the world's richest countries benefit from this movement of health workers, it generally has a negative impact on health services in some of the world's poorest countries.

Efforts underway to stem "brain drain" of doctors and nurses outlines actions currently being taken to combat the problem of developing countries losing health care professionals through migration, including codes of conduct and exchange programmes.

However, many have argued that current policy responses to migration of health professionals from low income developing countries underestimate the pressures and miss-identify the reasons for rising migration. The authors of The ‘skills drain’ from the developing world argue that these policies also overestimate the impact of recruitment policies on migration flows and ignore the unintended side effects, and ethical dilemmas involved.

In Briefing note on international migration of health professionals: levelling the playing field for developing country health systems the authors attempt to provide increased clarity on the key issues surrounding the international migration of health professionals from developing countries and the resultant impact on health services. Initially providing an overview of the extent of the knowledge base upon the impact of international migration by health workers, the paper then explores contemporary influences on migration and finally examines policy issues relating to different levels and different stakeholder groups.