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*In Ethiopia, only two doctors are available for every 200,000 people
Angela Balakrishnan and Pui-Guan Man in London
July 21, 2007
MANY of the world's least developed countries are losing large parts of their already shallow pool of skilled professionals, hindering their ability to pull themselves out of poverty, a United Nations report says.
The UN Conference on Trade and Development warned on Thursday that countries such as Ethiopia could see their long-term growth prospects damaged if the brain drain is not tackled. In Ethiopia, only two doctors are available for every 200,000 people as the country's doctors flock to the West.
"The problem of brain drain highlights the bigger issue of knowledge," said Charles Gore, one of the report's authors. "The least developed countries have a huge problem … It is no use just investing in human capital without policies which develop employment opportunities to encourage workers to stay."
In 2004, 1 million skilled people emigrated from less developed countries out of a total pool of 6.6 million - a loss of 15 per cent, the report said.
Haiti, Samoa, Gambia and Somalia are among those that have lost more than half of their university-educated professionals in recent years. In Bangladesh, 65 per cent of newly graduated doctors seek jobs abroad.
The problem is heightened by many developed countries gearing their employment policies to welcome more migrant workers in an attempt to make up for labour shortages.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development recently reported that in 2005 between a quarter and one-third of all practising doctors in countries such as the Britain, US, Canada and Australia were trained in another country. While sub-Saharan Africa has on average 13 doctors for 100,000 people, the US level is close to 300, the report said.
Africa, in particular, suffers from large outflows of labour due to political conflict, unstable economic conditions and low wages.
Mr Gore said that although aid to poor countries has been steady, the money is not being channelled to essential areas such as science and research. "Their economies remain locked into low value-added commodity production and low-skill manufacturing," he said.
The report pointed to developments in the Ugandan fish industry. Ten years ago, the European Union banned the importation of fish from Uganda due to poor sanitation. The ban was lifted following a large injection of funds to educate businesses and create facilities to meet health and safety standards, and Uganda's fish exports tripled between 1997 and 2003.
Guardian News & Media
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