Ben Ezechime, Enugu
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and World Health Organisation (WHO) will on Thursday in Abuja host a policy dialogue to address health workers migration in Africa.
Prof. Obinna Onwujekwe, the Coordinator Health Policy Research Group (HPRG), University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Nigeria’s National Centre for African Health Observatory Platform (AHOP), stated this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Enugu.
He said the WHO Regional Office for Africa and Country Office for Nigeria together with AHOP would participate in the dialogue.
Onwujekwe added that the policy dialogue forms part of AHOP’s five-day annual meeting, saying that AHOP was a regional partnership to promote evidence-informed policy-making.
He explained that the platform which is hosted by WHO Regional Office for Africa would leverage on existing national and regional collaborations to form a network of National Centres across the region, including Nigeria.
The statement also quoted Tom Davies, from London School of Economics (LSE), one of AHOP’s partners, saying the policy dialogue would be a significant event that would bring together decision-makers, practitioners and researchers from several African countries.
He said their coming together would enable them discuss the impact of health workforce emigration, policy measures and interventions, including bilateral agreements, to mitigate its risks on health systems and the health of populations.
According to him, African region is the only WHO region where health worker shortages are projected to increase by 2030, which is an urgent issue.
He stressed that existing health workforce shortages in the African region were exacerbated by the significant volume of emigration of health professionals, giving rise to a continuous ‘brain drain’ on the continent.
“AHOP policy dialogues focus on creating an environment for the exchange of information, experience, and recommendations among decision-makers, practitioners, and researchers, as well as facilitating solution oriented discussions on targeted policy opportunities
“This policy dialogue will be an opportunity to analyse the latest evidence on the efficacy of bilateral agreements as a solution to health worker migration challenges and share policy lessons from across the African Region,” Davies explained.
The statement equally quoted the Coordinator of the Integrated African Health Observatory at WHO-Africa Region (AFRO), Serge Bataliack, explaining that the policy dialogue, representatives from several African health ministries and other stakeholders would provide national, regional and global perspectives on challenges and opportunities related to health workforce migration.
“This kind of migration poses an enormous challenge for health equity and the attainment of universal health care in Africa and risks the continent, which is already disproportionately affected by the global disease burden, falling further behind in health outcomes,” he added.
Bataliack, further said, “effectively managing the emigration of healthcare professionals is paramount to national and regional policymakers, adding that AHOP is working to provide policymakers with the evidence they need to mitigate health workforce shortages and brain drain.
“This policy dialogue will be an opportunity to analyse the latest evidence on the efficacy of bilateral agreements as a solution to health worker migration challenges and share policy lessons from across the African Region.”
