Stemming the Brain Drain - A WHO Global Code of Practice on International Recruitment of Health Personnel
Article published in The New England Journal of Medicine, 2011
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the world faces a shortage of 4.3 million health professionals required for delivering essential health care services to populations in need. This shortage constitutes a major barrier to the provision of essential lifesaving health services, such as childhood immunization and the prevention and treatment of HIV–AIDS. International migration and recruitment of health personnel from low- and middle-income countries is an important contributing factor. In Zimbabwe, for example, of 1200 physicians trained between 1990 and 2001, only 360 remained in the country in 2006.