The 63rd World Health Assembly Establishes Ethical Principles for International Health Worker Recruitment

This years World Health Assembly, held in Geneva in May, saw the adoption of multiple resolutions on a variety of pressing global health issues. The Assembly brought together Health Ministers and senior health officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) Member States.
High on the agenda was the development of a global code of practice to govern the international recruitment of health personnel. The goal was to establish and promote voluntary, ethical principles and practices that strengthen the health systems of developing countries, discouraging states from actively recruiting from developing countries that are facing critical shortages of health workers. The goal was also to encourage facilitation of the "circular migration of health personnel" to maximize skills and share knowledge. The new code also seeks to ensure equal rights for both migrant and non-migrant health workers.
[Photo thanks to WHO / Chris Black]

"Thanks to some all-night efforts, we now have a code of practice on the international recruitment of health personnel," said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General.

Click for PDF: WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel.

British Brain Drain Looming?

The Guardian is reporting that health workers and teachers are getting ready to join the brain drain as home grown job prospects deteriorate.

"One in six doctors and nurses...plan to move abroad amid fears of spending cuts and pay freezes in the public sector"

Unions say this could place Britain in the "absurd position of hiring staff from abroad to fill the gap."
by Randeep Ramesh, Jessica Shepherd and Allegra Stratton

More on the Caribbean 'Brain Drain'

The Economist recently published this thought-provoking article on an old, yet persistant problem ~ the impact at home in the Caribbean of nurse migration to 'greener pastures'!
With the World Health Organization and the Global Health Workforce Alliance currently developing a 'code of practice' to bring before the General Assembly next month, this blog will continue to keep it's ear to the ground on this topic! Click on the post title to read the full article published in The Economist on April 8, 2010.

UPDATE April 23/2010:
More on this topic from the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian.

World Bank Report on CARICOM Nursing Shortage

According to the new World Bank report released last week ~ “The Nurse Labor and Education Markets in the English-Speaking CARICOM - Issues and Options for Reform,” the region is facing a rapidly growing shortage of nurses as demand for quality health care increases due to an aging population, and high numbers of nurses emigrate drawn by higher paying jobs in Canada, the UK and the US. The data indicates that approximately 21,500 CARICOM trained nurses are working in Canada, the UK and the US; three times higher than the workforce in the CARICOM region itself. Just between 2002 and 2006 alone, more than 1,800 nurses left the region to work abroad.
Click on the title to read the World Bank Press Release and note the key policy recommendations to try to address and reverse this situation.

New Report Points to Some Possible Benefits of Caribbean Nurse Migration

Much has been said about the impact of nurse migration in the Caribbean. Now a new report by UWI (Jamaica) Research Fellow, Natasha Mortley, presented to the Global Development Network, provides us with further insight and analsysis with which to approach and tackle this situation.
In this blog post I have provided links to the report itself, as well as to a commentary on the report published in Panos London magazine entitled "Nursing exodus could benefit Caribbean in long term." [quote below taken from this commentary].

"The migration of nurses to wealthier countries could potentially benefit Caribbean healthcare systems if managed properly, a report claims. The report, written by Natasha Mortley, a research fellow at the University of West Indies in Jamaica, estimates it costs Caribbean governments US$ 35,000 to train a nurse – an investment that is lost when nurses leave to work abroad. However, the report argues that as many nurses eventually return to their original counties, there can also be important gains as a result of migration." by Tania Ghosh

International Summit on Nurse Faculty Migration

To develop a fuller understanding of global nursing faculty migration, thirty global nurse leaders will convene with key stakeholder organizations such as the World Health Organization, International Organisation on Migration, International Labour Organisation, and the World Trade Organization next July (2010).
An Elsevier Foundation grant has been awarded to the International Council on Nurses (ICN) and the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) to hold “The International Summit on Nurse Faculty Migration”. It is hoped that the outcomes from the summit will advance this pressing issue at the global level; while consulting, coordinate and implementing results at the local level.

“Learning from past lessons, we know that nurse faculty migration may pose a high risk problem for many countries,” said David Benton, CEO, International Council of Nurses. The goal is to "proactively manage the looming crisis and improve healthcare delivery by preparing sufficient numbers of nurses to meet the needs of the future.”

Watch for further information about this event...

The Cost of Nurse Migration

The cost of CARICOM nurse migration is the focus of this news article reporting on a recent meeting at the PAHO headquarters in Barbados.

"Emigration of nurses is costing some CARICOM countries an estimated US$16 million in losses. This cost accounts for training and retraining people to replace those nurses who leave for greener pastures."

This is indeed worisome, as is the cost to many other countries when their nurses emigrate to a CARICOM nation. However it was acknowledged at this meeting that the problem is a global one...

"In order to address this worldwide shortage of nurses, governments and professional organisations must find creative ways of making the profession more attractive.”

Click post title to read article from the Stabroek News.

Brain Drain ~ A CARICOM Dilemma

Interesting article by Rickey Singh, posted Sunday, August 16, 2009 in the Jamaica Observer . The article discusses the shortage of medical professionals serving the Caribbean region.

"According to data revealed by Caricom's Assistant Secretary General, Dr Edward Greene, this region has lost some 50,000 doctors, nurses and teachers over the past 11 years who have migrated to North America, Britain and other foreign countries.

Dr Greene, who shoulders responsibility for Human and Social Development at the Caricom Secretariat, in referring to research findings of 2006, has disclosed that accompanying the severe loss of professionals was also the drain on the public purse for money invested in training nurses and teachers in particular, with migrated nurses alone accounting for approximately US$2.02 million."

Click on the title link to read the complete article.

Dominica to Export Nurses to Barbadoes?

Dominica News Online carried this news story by Shermain Bique on May 29, 2009, after an announcement by Prime Minister Skerrit that Dominic could be exporting nurses to Barbadoes as early as October of this year.
Click on the title link to read the article.

Caribbean Nursing Statistics

Table 1:
Number of Registered Nurses, Vacancies, and Vacancy Rates by Country.
Table 2:
Registered Nurses' Resignations with Declared Intentions to Migrate to the United Kingdom, the United States of America, or Canada, by Year and Country.
Table 3:
Health Workforce in the Caribbean Region per 10,000 Population.

Managed migration: the Caribbean approach to addressing nursing services capacity
Health Services Research, June, 2007, by Marla E. Salmon,
Jean Yan, Hermi Hewitt, Victoria Guisinger

St. Kitts & Nevis Nurses Meet Together

Theme of the Retreat:
“Empowering Nurses to Deliver Quality Health Care In the 21st Century”.
Read news report on SKNVibes: posted Monday 02 June, 2008

Barbadian Nurses Promised More if they Stay at Home

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, April 30, 2008 - "The Barbados government is moving to improve the nursing profession to bring it in line with international standards, encourage these health care providers to stay at home..." [at home in Barbadoes that is, not to give up their careers and stay home]. The article goes on to describe the anticipated enhancements that are expected to result from the new Nurses Bill 2008 that passed in Parliament in Barbadoes last Tuesday.
Click title to read the full article from Caribbean360.

Crisis In The Health Sector Of Caribbean Countries

Crisis In The Health Sector Of Caribbean Countries: The Impact Of Trade
Liberalization And The Movement Of Labour On Health Services In The
CARICOM, March 2008
Conference paper by
Marjorie Charles, PhD (University of the West Indies)
"This paper examines the impact of migration of nurses on the health sector in the CARICOM region and implications for policy making. It also examines the extent to which domestic regulation in the health sector can be used as a tool for policy making."[from abstract]
Click on the title for access to the full text article.