Issued by Department of Health
6 March 2008
It is shocking that while Africa has 11% of the world population and carries 24% of the world's disease burden, it has only 3% of the world's health workers - and many of these workers continue to be lost to migration.
These are some of the figures presented at the first Global Forum on Human Resources for Health held in Kampala, Uganda which ended yesterday. The Forum was convened by the Global Health Workforce Alliance under the auspices of the World Health Organisation and was attended by various stakeholders, including government leaders, health, development, civil society, academic and health professional leaders from around the world.
The World Health Organisation indicates that on average, one in four doctors and one in 20 nurses trained in Africa have migrated and are now working in OECD countries. "In Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States, a quarter or more of all physicians have been imported from other countries," according to the WHO fact-sheet presented at the conference.
Developed countries are also making a significant saving in training costs by recruiting from developing countries, particularly in Africa. February 23 issue of the medical journal, Lancet, illustrates the extent to which developed countries are unfairly benefiting from the current migration trends.
Using the example of Ghana and United Kingdom, Lancet reports that between 1998 and 2002, Ghana lost 35 million pounds of its training investment in health professionals to the UK while the UK saved 65 million pounds in its own training costs.
Commenting on this information, Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said there is clear evidence that urgent action is needed to address the current disparities between Africa and developed countries.
"Efforts are being made at national and Africa regional levels to address this situation. However, possibility of success depends on the commitment of developed countries to this process. South Africa will continue to use its position as the chair of the African Union Ministers of Health to urge for the cessation of further depletion of Africa's human resources for health," said Minister Tshabalala-Msimang.
Migration and other factors have led to very low health worker/patient ratio in the continent compared to developed countries. The World Health Statistics indicates that while developed nations have one doctor for less than 500 people, in worst affected countries in Africa the ratio is one doctor 50 000 people.
South Africa is amongst the countries better numbers of health professionals. In 2004, South Africa had the highest number of doctors (34 800) in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria (34 900). It had the third best doctor patient ratio (.77 per 1000) after Seychelles (1.51 per 1000) and Mauritius (1.06 per 1000).
South Africa also had the highest number of nurses in the sub-Sahara at 184 000 (followed by Nigeria at 127 500) and has the highest number of pharmacists at 12 500 (again followed by Nigeria at 6 300).
(World Health Statistics accessible at: http://ww.who.int/whosis/whostat2007/en/index.html)
Contact: Sibani Mngadi @ 0827720161