Publication

This paper illustrates that the migration of medical professionals from Africa to developed countries has raised fears of an African medical brain drain. But the authors stress that empirical research on the causes and effects of the phenomenon has been hampered by a lack of systematic data on the extent of African health workers’ international movements. The authors use destination-country census data to estimate the number of African-born doctors and professional nurses working abroad in a developed country and compare this to the stocks of these workers in each country of origin.