Brain Drain
Brain Drain With the growing trend of immigration, many problems continue to arise. Specifically, people who are qualified medical practitioners are moving from their poor home countries to work in wealthier and better-developed ones. This phenomenon is known as “brain drain.” According to Dictionary.com, “brain drain” is “a loss of trained professional personnel to another company, nation…that offers greater opportunity.” Poor countries suffer from significant “brain drain” of their health professionals as health workers migrate to wealthier countries, leaving the poorer countries at a loss of sufficient health care. The healthcare systems in low-income countries are already in a weak and fragile state, with a rapidly growing rate of childhood and maternal mortality. The “brain drain” phenomenon directly threatens the delivery of adequate health care to the citizens of poorer countries, contributing to their increasing mortality rate. In order to decrease the impacts of the ongoing “brain drain” dilemma, a greater number of health professionals should be trained. There are several reasons why the “brain drain” of health workers is so frequently happening. The health systems in poorer countries are very fragile and are not very stable. Many health professionals who begin their training in these poorer countries do not receive all the education they desire to have. After basic training, they choose to move onto richer countries where they have a better opportunity for further training. Because of the financial setbacks experienced in poorer countries, there is not as much equipment and training material to thoroughly train their health workers. In an article titled “Brain Drain Hits Poor Countries Hard” by Gustavo Capdevila, he states the top reasons for migrating health workers are “a poor working environment and a lack of motivation” as well as “low wages and…little prospect for advancement in their careers” (par. 3). In wealthier countries, these migrating
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