The Brain Drain

The Brain Drain. It’s a growing problem in the global health. It’s quite a clever name for such a threatening situation. What is happening is health care professionals in third world countries are choosing to practice in Western nations or to work for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Why? Money.

It’s a simple concept, really. The average nurse in Ghana makes about $100 a month. That’s $1,200 a year. Doctors, despite all their prestige, make a meager $12,000 a year. Yes, in Africa that’s much better than most make, but factored into the cost of living, it still doesn’t compare to Western salaries. Do you blame them for wanting more?

It’s the “American Dream”—in Africa. They all want the rags to riches story, and now they have the opportunity to write theirs.

As more NGOs are responding to the AIDS pandemic in Africa, they need more health care professionals to staff their field offices. Hiring from local sources works to the benefit of both the locals and the organization. It costs less for the organization to hire local nurses, and the organization gains the inside knowledge and experience of a person having lived in the area. On the other side of the handshake, the NGOs will be able to pay the health care providers more than they would be able to make working in a local hospital. This situation sounds win-win, right?

Not exactly. The majority of the NGOs that come to work in third world countries focus on specific problems. Some of the most popular targets are AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, malnutrition, etc. Therefore, the nurses are being recruited to work in specialized clinics, leaving a dearth of nurses in the primary care environment. When people get sick with non-trendy illnesses, they have to wait long periods to see one of the remaining primary care providers. But if they had AIDS, they could walk across the street to the clinic and be treated promptly since those foreign clinics are adequately staffed with the health care workers they lured away from the primary care hospitals.

When laid out in such a fashion, it is easy to say that the locals should show loyalty to their cities and villages and not abandon the local clinics for the ritzy NGOs. A few months ago, looking at the situation through my nice 15-inch laptop screen, I wondered how these nurses could cave and be entranced by the jewels the NGOs have to offer. Part of me knew the answer. But I just wanted everyone to be a mini Mother Teresa.

The hard truth of survival remains. Everyone wants the same thing for their children—a good future. If the nurses see an opportunity to provide a better life for their families, they’re going to lunge at it. We should not blame them for wanting to better their situation and that of their children. Most of us would do the exact same thing.

However, that still leaves us with the swirling Brain Drain.