The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a global code of practice which aims to halt the damage done to developing country health systems by the emigration of vital healthcare workers. The Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel is intended to achieve “an equitable balance of the interests of health workers, source countries and destination countries”.

The WHO acknowledges that migration of healthcare workers has positive benefits for the home countries as well as filling the demand in wealthier host countries. The organisation states: “On the positive side, migration generates billions of dollars in remittances (the money sent back to home countries by migrants) to low-income countries and has been associated with a decline in poverty. Health workers also may return and bring significant skills and expertise back to their home countries.”

However, the “brain drain” effect can do great harm to developing countries’ often fragile healthcare systems. In some low-income countries, notes the WHO, over 50 per cent of highly trained health workers emigrate, leaving devastating staff shortages in the health service.

The new code of practice makes a series of recommendations for both the source and destination countries of health worker migrants. For the source countries it recommends stronger protection and fairer treatment of health workers, improved domestic training of health workers and the development of policies that facilitate the return of migrants. For the destination countries, it recommends the adoption of policies to reduce dependency on migrant health workers, such as educating and training more health workers domestically.

Read the Global Code of Practice in full at: WHO

Source:

• IDN-InDepthNews