Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
Medical brain drain hurts poor nations:WHO
http://news.xinhuanet.com
http://news.xinhuanet.com
BEIJING, April 8 -- The migration of health-care workers from developing countries to the developed world is having a negative effect on the health services of the poorer countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
WHO warns that if nothing is done to stop the drain of health-care workers, some countries may have difficulty delivering basic health services.
The theme of this year's World Health Day, April 7, is "human resources for health," highlighting international migration of health professionals in the Western Pacific region.
In the Philippines, 15,000 nurses leave each year, while some doctors undergo retraining to become nurses so that they, too, can join the exodus.
According to WHO, a serious shortage of health-care workers in many countries is impairing the provision of essential life-saving interventions such as childhood immunization, safe pregnancy, and access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
More than 4 million doctors, nurses, midwives, managers and public health workers are needed to fill the gap in 57 countries, 36 of which are in sub-Saharan Africa.
"It is high time health workers are paid decent salaries, and provided with the right working conditions and the right equipment to do the work they are trained to do," said Dr Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific. Omi called on governments to start providing better working conditions for health workers.
In China, few doctors or medical school graduates want to work in rural and western areas, said Chen Xiaohong, vice-minister of health, at a World Health Day conference.
Official statistics show that more than 90 per cent of China's doctors and nurses work in urban areas, which only account for 550 million of China's population of 1.3 billion.
(Source: China Daily)
WHO warns that if nothing is done to stop the drain of health-care workers, some countries may have difficulty delivering basic health services.
The theme of this year's World Health Day, April 7, is "human resources for health," highlighting international migration of health professionals in the Western Pacific region.
In the Philippines, 15,000 nurses leave each year, while some doctors undergo retraining to become nurses so that they, too, can join the exodus.
According to WHO, a serious shortage of health-care workers in many countries is impairing the provision of essential life-saving interventions such as childhood immunization, safe pregnancy, and access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
More than 4 million doctors, nurses, midwives, managers and public health workers are needed to fill the gap in 57 countries, 36 of which are in sub-Saharan Africa.
"It is high time health workers are paid decent salaries, and provided with the right working conditions and the right equipment to do the work they are trained to do," said Dr Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific. Omi called on governments to start providing better working conditions for health workers.
In China, few doctors or medical school graduates want to work in rural and western areas, said Chen Xiaohong, vice-minister of health, at a World Health Day conference.
Official statistics show that more than 90 per cent of China's doctors and nurses work in urban areas, which only account for 550 million of China's population of 1.3 billion.
(Source: China Daily)