Africa’s ‘Brain Drain’ In Health Care Continues To Soar The number of

Africa’s ‘Brain Drain’ In Health Care Continues To Soar

The number of doctors from sub-Saharan Africa working in the U.S. has risen by nearly 40 percent in the past decade, researchers from Vanderbilt University reportedTuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine.

By analyzing data from the World Health Organization, Akhenaten Benjamin Siankam Tankwanchi and his team estimated that 10,819 physicians were born or trained in 28 sub-Saharan countries. For all of these countries, except South Africa, migration to the U.S. increased from 2002 to 2011. Nigeria and Ghana saw a more than 50 percent rise, while Ethiopia and Sudan suffered a more than 100 percent increase. Liberia was hardest hit with an estimated 77 percent of their doctors moving to the U.S.

Once the doctors leave sub-Saharan Africa, they don’t return home quickly. On average, the physicians trained in Africa have been in the U.S. for 18 years, the researchers said.

“Unless far-reaching policies are implemented by the U.S. and sub-Saharan countries, the current emigration trends will persist," Tankwanchi and his team wrote. "And the U.S. will remain a leading destination for SSA physicians emigrating from the continent of greatest need.”

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Top graph: Since the 1960s, the number of sub-Saharan trained doctors who have moved to the U.S. (SSA-USMG) has increased exponentially.

Bottom graph: Length of service provided to the home country by medical graduates trained in sub-Saharan Africa before moving to the U.S.