NIGERIA— The Official Development Assistance (ODA) of the United Kingdom (UK) has allocated US$18 million to strengthen the healthcare workforce in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana.

The funding aims to support the recruitment and retention of healthcare staff in these African countries.

It will also contribute to upskilling the workforce and improving health outcomes through enhanced administration, data collection, training, and retention opportunities.

Investing in a robust international health workforce enables the UK to effectively address global health challenges.

The allocated funding seeks to make a tangible impact by enhancing the performance of health systems in each participating country, ultimately bolstering global pandemic preparedness and reducing health inequalities.

Will Quince, the Health Minister, expressed his delight in supporting the training, recruitment, and retention of skilled healthcare professionals in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana, emphasizing the crucial role of highly skilled and resilient staff in delivering quality healthcare services.

ODA has also pledged US$7.5 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) to support workforce planning and capacity building in collaboration with local governments and health system stakeholders.

Furthermore, a competitive grant scheme of US$11.2 million over two years will be provided to a not-for-profit organization to coordinate partnership work in the participating countries.

The program for the health workforce includes fostering collaborations between UK institutions and local health systems, promoting skills exchanges, and enhancing curriculum, regulation, and guidance in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana.

The delivery coordinator will be responsible for establishing, funding, and overseeing this initiative, driving improvements in the quality and retention of healthcare staff in the three countries, and ultimately delivering better outcomes for patients.

This funding builds upon the previously committed US$6.2 million as part of the Building the Future International Workforce ODA program in Ghana, Uganda, and Somaliland.

The latter program aims to enhance health workforce planning and management, provide training opportunities for refugees and displaced people, and establish connections between NHS institutions and country health institutions.

Revised Code of Practice for International Recruitment by the UK

Simultaneously, the UK government has introduced a revised code of practice for recruiting internationally in the health sector.

This measure aims to address concerns raised by international partners regarding the African health crisis.

The code aims to prevent the migration of healthcare professionals who have benefited from education infrastructure improvements to the UK, Canada, the US, the Middle East, and Australia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates a global shortage of 10 million health workers to achieve universal health coverage in low and lower-middle-income countries by 2030.

Health and social care organizations in England have been instructed not to actively recruit from countries recognized by the WHO as facing significant health and care workforce-related challenges.

However, managed recruitment activities can take place under government-to-government agreements.

Currently, these agreements exist with India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka, supporting well-managed migration pathways that benefit the NHS, healthcare professionals, and the sending countries.

Additionally, the UK has listed Ghana, Nigeria, Angola, and Cameroon among 54 countries on the World Health Organization’s Workforce Support and Safeguard List, which advises against actively targeting recruitment from these countries.

The list includes countries with a Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Service Coverage Index below 50 and a density of doctors, nurses, and midwives below the global median of 48.6 per 10,000 population.

Stemming the drain: Addressing healthcare worker migration

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Kingdom (UK), with a population of 68 million people, has over 370,000 physicians, whereas Nigeria, with a population of 211 million people, has fewer than 75,000 physicians.

Remarkably, a significant number of doctors working in the UK are originally from Nigeria, and their numbers have been increasing steadily.

For instance, in 2006, there were 2,692 Nigerian doctors in the UK medical workforce, a number that rose to 5,250 by 2018.

Several factors contribute to this mass emigration of African health workers, as highlighted by globalvoices.org.

Low pay, limited job opportunities, inadequate infrastructure, and a lack of prospects for their children’s future are among the key drivers.

As highly valued immigrants in their destination countries, these healthcare professionals have access to various immigration pathways, such as Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK and Employment-Based Green Cards in the US, which can ultimately lead to citizenship through naturalization.

Efforts to address this issue are underway, including the African Union Migration Policy Framework (2018-2027), which puts forth recommendations to curb the brain drain across the continent.

These recommendations advocate for the implementation of gender-responsive economic development programs that offer qualified nationals’ gainful employment, professional development, and educational opportunities in their home countries.

However, it is essential for African nations to establish the necessary mechanisms to effectively implement these recommendations.

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