Brain drain of workers from poor to rich countries

"For its World Health Report 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that there is a global shortage of 4.3 million doctors, midwives, nurses, and support workers. Furthermore, “these [shortfalls] often coexist in a country with large numbers of unemployed health professionals. Poverty, imperfect private labor markets, lack of public funds, bureaucratic red tape and political interference produce this paradox of shortages in the midst of underutilized talent.” In addition, “Unplanned or excessive exits may cause significant losses of workers and compromise the system’s knowledge, memory and culture.”

"The prestigious journal, British Medical Journal (BMJ) sums up another aspect of the “brain drain” problem in the title of an article: “Developed world is robbing African countries of health staff” (Rebecca Coombes, BMJ, Volume 230, p.923, April 23, 2005.) This, Coombes notes, is because rich countries are also hiring medical staff from abroad, because they are far cheaper ..."
GlobalIssues

Tagged: poverty, globalization