A couple of weeks ago I covered the importance of a well-trained, well-paid and well-respected human resources system in providing free universal
healthcare globally. I analysed the challenges of doing so and examined some of
the factors which can enable or inhibit good practice. Since then I’ve become
aware of a new drive, flagged up by Health Poverty Action, which highlights the
UK’s responsibility when it comes to global human resources in the field of
health. It emphasises a developmental imbalance - with serious consequences for
developing countries - created by the Western exploitation of global health
worker labour.
Health Poverty Action has identified more than fifty
countries, mainly in Africa and South Asia, which suffer from a “critical shortage of health personnel” while simultaneously carrying “a large part of
the global burden of disease.” At the same time the increased necessity of long
term care for ageing populations in European countries is creating strong demand
for health workers, fuelling the migration of health workers to Europe from developing
countries in today’s heavily globalised labour market.
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| Image of health worker in clinic in Tsumkwe in Namibia (c) Health Poverty Action |
Health Poverty Action has been calling for the UK to “compensate
developing countries for its role in the global health worker crisis.” There is a cached copy of the call here; I'm not sure what has happened to the plan to get supporters to write to UK MPs. The charity points to the shortage of health workers in developing countries and the UK's strong record of employing health workers who are originally
from developing countries and migrate to the UK to work. HPA is not
challenging people’s entitlement to move for work, to earn, to study and to
create better lives, but instead seek simply to raise awareness of the
consequences of the health worker shortage in developing countries. The responsibility for this must be on world governments engaged in large scale health infrastructure and planning. The
shortage of health workers in developing countries results not only in poorer treatment there but in a variety of deficits which
weaken the entire health system in the long term, from the under-staffing and
under-maintenance of hospitals, clinics and rural health stations to poorer quality and
less up to date training and education, the under-provision of medical
equipment, the reduced chance of future investment when a future workforce
cannot be relied upon and much more.
The charity adds,
It is estimated that 1 billion people [virtually all in developing countries] will never see a health worker, putting them at risk of dying from easily preventable diseases, from childbirth and basic health conditions.
The report Aid in Reverse challenges the UK government
to play a conscientious and responsible role in ending the global health worker
crisis, which Health Poverty Action labels a developing world “brain drain.”
They suggest that in the UK the Departments of Health and International Development
could work together on two complementary issues: first, treating the roots of
the UK’s own shortage of health workers through better planning, training and
education; second, giving something back to the developing countries whose
health infrastructures are being weakened through lack – with severe
ramifications for those nations’ own long term development – while they
contribute so much to developed nations’ healthcare systems.
The challenge to developed nations who use the labour of
talented health workers from developing countries to ensure their own citizens’
wellbeing is part of a pan-European initiative aiming to create a sustainable global health workforce. One of the main directives of the project is the
implementation of a World Health Organisation Global Code of Practice on the
International Recruitment of Health Personnel. The project’s tagline runs,
Bidisha is a Fellow of the 2013 International Reporting
Project, covering global health and development.
