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New data on African health professionals abroad.

New data on African health professionals abroad.

  • January 10, 2008
  • Michael A Clemens & Gunilla Pettersson
  • Article

The migration of doctors and nurses from Africa to developed countries has raised concerns about an African medical brain drain. This study uses destination-country census data to estimate that around 65,000 African-born physicians and 70,000 African-born professional nurses were working abroad in developed countries around 2000. This accounts for about one fifth of African-born physicians and one tenth of African-born nurses globally. The proportion of health professionals working abroad varies significantly across African countries, from 1% to over 70%. These findings provide the first standardized, occupation-specific measure of skilled African health professionals working in developed countries.

  • Source: Human Resources for Health

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