Brain Drain: Addressing Health Workforce Migration from Sub-Saharan Africa to the UK

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In the aftermath of BREXIT and the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHS is experiencing severe backlogs and staff burnout amidst increasing care burdens as it copes with the UK’s ageing population. Recruitment of staff from other countries has been instrumental in meeting personnel shortages, particularly in the care sector.

Africa has just 4% of the global health workforce to a population of over 1 billion. Yet, many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing health worker emigration at staggering rates with the UK as a top destination country. A total of 39 African countries now sit on the WHO health workforce support and safeguards list to discourage international recruitment from these states.

Some view health worker migration as opportunities on both sides. As well as building the NHS workforce, African practitioners could earn higher salaries which is remitted to their home countries while being exposed to further training opportunities. On the other hand, this could be viewed as a new dimension of colonialism as the migration poses a serious risk to further workforce shortages in already strained African health systems.