The brain drain of health care professionals from sub-Saharan Africa: A geographic perspective

Abstract

This article examines the flows of physicians and nurses from African countries to Europe and North America using available data sets. It offers a geographic perspective of the magnitude and flow of these skilled health care professionals and highlights positive and negative impacts of the flows on Africa’s development. The article further discusses the coercive and ‘carrot and stick’ strategies that African governments have employed during the past two decades in attempts to stem the tide of the flows of its health care professionals. It concludes by noting that while Africa can do nothing about the pull factors, it can mitigate the push factors by creating conducive working environments to help retain its health care professionals.