The migration of physicians from sub-Saharan Africa to the United States of America: measures of the African brain drain

Abstract

Background: The objective of this paper is to describe the numbers, characteristics, and trends in the migration to the United States of physicians trained in sub-Saharan Africa.

The national and international implications of a decade of doctor migration in the Irish context

“…At an international level the consequences of medical migration are well documented [3,6,12,13] and The Global Code has placed doctor migration firmly on the policy agenda by highlighting the ethical implications of health worker migration, particularly when it undermines the health systems of source countries [7]. Additionally, the first report to the World Health Assembly on health personnel migration is due in 2012 and destination countries, such as Ireland who are major importers of foreign-trained doctors and nurses, will be required to provide data on this.…”

Analyzing the Determinants of Health Worker Performance

“…There have been quite a few efforts to collect detailed data but they are now outdated and need to be modernized. One of the initial and most prominent attempts was that of Hagopian et al (2004), who focused only on the migration to the United States. Using the 2002 American Medical Association Physician Masterfile, they identify a total of 5,334 physicians who had graduated from Sub-Saharan Africa-based medical schools and were located in the United States.…”

We should do more to train anesthesia technicians in Africa

“…For example, 5,334 physicians who were trained in subSaharan Africa now work in the USA. 2 Secondly, while programs like these can train dozens of physician anesthesiologists, thousands would be needed to develop a physician-delivered anesthesia system similar to that in Canada (see Table). Countries with little money to spend on health care, a scarcity of physicians, and an even greater scarcity of physician anesthesiologists, will inevitably depend on less expensive local technicians to provide the bulk of their anesthesia care.…”