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Brain drain: a challenge to global mental health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Bibilola D. Oladeji  and
Oye Gureje
Bibilola D. Oladeji
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, email bibideji@yahoo.com
Oye Gureje
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
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The brain drain of medical professionals from lower-income to higher-income countries contributes to the current inequity that characterises access to mental healthcare by those in need across the world and hinders efforts to scale up mental health services in resource-constrained settings, especially in Nigeria and other West African countries. The migration of skilled workers is driven by a combination of the globalisation of the labour market and the ability of highly resourced countries to attract and retain specialists from poorer countries. If we are to ameliorate the worldwide shortage of mental health professionals, we need to find innovative ways of attracting young doctors into psychiatric training in all countries. We must also introduce measures to improve health worker retention in low- and middle-income countries.

Type
Thematic Paper
Information
BJPsych International , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , August 2016 , pp. 61 - 63
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2016

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