Migration of health-care workers from developing countries: strategic approaches to its management

Resume Migration des agents de sante en provenance des pays en developpement : approches strategiques de la gestion de ce phenomene Sur les 175 millions de personnes (2,9 % de [...]
Of the 175 million people (2.9% of the world's population) living outside their country of birth in 2000, 65 million were economically active. The rise in the number of people migrating is significant for many developing countries because they are losing their better-educated nationals to richer countries. Medical practitioners and nurses represent a small proportion of the highly skilled workers who migrate, but the loss for developing countries of human resources in the health sector may mean that the capacity of the health system to deliver health care equitably is significantly compromised, it is unlikely that migration will stop given the advances in global communications and the development of global labour markets in some fields, which now include nursing. The aim of this paper is to examine some key issues related to the international migration of health workers and to discuss strategic approaches to managing migration. Keywords Health personnel; Health manpower; Brain drain: Emigration and immigration/trends/legislation; Foreign professional personnel/supply and distribution; Physicians/supply and distribution; Nurses/supply and distribution; Salaries and fringe benefits; Socioeconomic factors; International cooperation; Developing countries; Developed countries (source: MeSH, NLM). Mots cles Personnel sante; Exode des competences; Emigration et immigration/orientations/legislation; Personnel professionnel etranger/ressources et distribution; Medecin/ressources et distribution; Infirmieres et infirmiers/ressources et distribution; Facteur socioeconomique; Salaire et prime; Cooperation internationale; Pays en developpement; Pays developpe (source: MESH, INSERM). Palabras clave Personal de salud; Recursos humanos en salud; Exodo intellectual; Migracion internacional/tendencias/legislacion; Personal profesional extranjero/provision y distribucion; Medicos/provision y distribucion; Enfermeras/provision y distribucion; Factores socioeconomicos; Salarios y beneficios; Cooperacion internacional: Paises en desarrollo; Paises desarrollados (fuente: DeCS, BIREME). [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.]