Submission ID 116983
| Issue/Objective | A growing literature has underlined the role of the inefficiency of health systems, including poor working conditions in the medical brain drain. However, little interest has been paid to evaluating policies aiming to strengthen health systems and to the channels through which these can retain medical workforce at home.This study investigates through which channels International Cooperation for Health reduces Medical Brain-Drain (MBD) from Africa. |
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| Methodology/Approach | We use a new dataset documenting the flows of physicians' and nurses' Brain-Drain from 53 African countries, respectively, to 29 and 21 destination countries, and then, estimate a fixed effect and a standard gravity panel model of international migration, for the period 1995-2020. Medical Cooperation is approximated by using the Official Health Aid (OHA), the WHO global code of practice (WHO Code), and the Abuja Commitment of Public Health Financing (ACHF), which are three policy instruments implemented to strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes in Africa. As main transmission channels, we focus on health infrastructure (number of hospital bed per 1000 people), HIV prevalence, and medical workforce' enrollment, generally targeted by these instruments of international medical cooperation. |
| Results | The research documents three main findings. First, OHA has a direct and an indirect reducing effect on physicians and nurses' brain-drain. Its indirect effect goes through the channels of health infrastructure, and HIV prevalence reducing. Second, ACHF reduces physicians and nurses' brain-drain, directly and indirectly, also through channels such as health infrastructure and HIV prevalence reducing. Third, WHO Code does not reduce the MBD from Africa, even directly and indirectly, but when interacted with OHA and ACHF, it plays a key role in their reducing effects on physicians and nurses' brain-drain, with a more pronounced effect on nurses' emigration from home countries. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | Official Health Aid and Abuja Commitment of Public Health Financing by alleviating the challenges of the local health system, through channels such as health infrastructure, and the fight against HIV AIDS, reduce MBD from home. Implementation of the WHO Code at home has a catalytic effect on these impacts. |
| Presenters and affiliations | Ruphin DOUA Economics Department, University Felix Houphouet Boigny (UFHB) Ruphin DOUA Departement d'economie, Université Felix Houphouet Boigny (UFHB) Ruphin DOUA Economics Department, University Felix Houphouet Boigny (UFHB) |
