Medical Brain Drain Scourge In Africa: Focusing on Nigeria

Abstract

This presentation discusses the ongoing brain drain crisis in the healthcare sector, focusing on Nigeria. Qualified clinical professionals like doctors, nurses, and pharmacists are well known to emigrate from developing countries to developed nations to practice. However, there is an alarming increase in this trend. The degree of brain drain among the health workforce has assumed frightening dimensions in Africa and, more notably, Nigeria. As a result of the brain drain issue, it is extremely difficult to meet the demand for labor in the healthcare industry and the greater economy of the sending countries. The topic of brain drain in Nigeria is not unique to one industry; however, the healthcare sector has experienced a significant loss. This presentation provides a background on the problem, its effects, and its consequences. It also gives specific recommendations to help minimize the flow.

Cancer Patients' Quality of Life

“…Such scales refer to the psychological adjustment and to the functional status of people. The measures are: The Sickness Impact Profile [26,37) (31,33) and the His General Well-Being Measure [31 J. The reliability and validity of these measures have been reported elsewhere.…”

“…When reading the studies on the QL of cancer patients this conclusion seems accurate. Fayos et al [37] gave a definition when advocating the assessment of QL in cancer treatment: "The ability of patients to manage their lives as they evaluate it" (p. 100). In the research reported it is striking that QL is never explicitly defined.…”

“…If one compares these definitions it becomes evident that they differ from each other along two dimensions. First, some authors define QL as a global measure, an overall evaluation [8,37 ], others define components of life being important for the QL [38-41 j. Some authors combine these approaches in population based research [3,4].…”

“…A global measure can serve as a criterion when assessing the interrelations of different components of life and the overall sense of well-being for cancer patients as it did for the general population. Secondly, some authors explicitly refer to the subjective nature of QL (8,37,38). Others refer to an objective situation [39, 41 1.…”

How friendly is the link between inflammation and cancer for cancer patients?

“…IL-1ß is another cytokine that is regulated by NF-kB. This cytokine has been associated with growth and progression of human gastric carcinoma [49], colorectal cancer [50], esophageal cancer [51] and ovarian cancer [47]. In one study, surgical removal of the ovarian tumor and resolution of ascites was followed by decline in serum levels of IL-1beta [52].…”