They Earn More Money, But Some Migrant Health Workers Say It’s Not Worth It
Resource Details
Author(s): Gamuchirai Masiyiwa
Date: January 22, 2025
Approximately 15% of the global health care workforce is employed outside their home country or country of training.
The situation is especially pronounced in big economies like the United Kingdom, United States and Australia, where labor shortages and aging populations strain health care systems.
Receiving countries capitalize on the skill sets of migrant workers without bearing any of the costs, especially the cost of training people, says Abel Chikanda, an associate professor at the School of Earth, Environment and Society at McMaster University in Canada.
“[They] are essentially benefitting from human resource that they did not contribute towards,” he says.
For example, in the case of health worker migration, annually, Africa loses about 2 billion dollars invested in medical training when its health workers migrate abroad. Meanwhile, destination countries enjoy substantial savings by bypassing these costs.
The situation is especially pronounced in big economies like the United Kingdom, United States and Australia, where labor shortages and aging populations strain health care systems.
Receiving countries capitalize on the skill sets of migrant workers without bearing any of the costs, especially the cost of training people, says Abel Chikanda, an associate professor at the School of Earth, Environment and Society at McMaster University in Canada.
“[They] are essentially benefitting from human resource that they did not contribute towards,” he says.
For example, in the case of health worker migration, annually, Africa loses about 2 billion dollars invested in medical training when its health workers migrate abroad. Meanwhile, destination countries enjoy substantial savings by bypassing these costs.