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ABSTRACT
The emigration of health professionals has been a major development challenge in Ghana. In order to deal with this problem, a number of policies have been implemented to increase salaries in the health sector. Yet, the effects of these measures on migration trends are not adequately explored. This chapter examines the trends and drivers of migration of health professionals from Ghana, within the framework of the Push-Pull theory of migration. It also relies on data collected on a sample of 198 nurses and 46 doctors to assess the international migration intentions of nurses and doctors in the Ghana. The results show that the proportion of health professionals migrating from Ghana increased in the 1980s, but started declining in 2004. While some researchers have attributed such a decline in migration flows from Ghana to improved salaries in the country, we have argued that stricter immigration policies adopted by popular destinations may better explain why many health professionals are now remaining in Ghana. This assertion is supported by the fact that 60% of nurses and 28% of doctors surveyed still had intention to migrate from Ghana because of job-related and academic purposes. In view of these findings, we suggest that in addition to improving wages for health professionals, the government must provide more opportunities for health-related postgraduate studies in Ghana. Programmes must also be developed to encourage Ghanaian health workers living abroad to come and work in Ghana for short period of stay.
Keywords: International migration, health professionals, push-pull theory, Ghana
1. INTRODUCTION
Migration has been an integral part of life for many decades, but it has only recently become a topical issue in policy and academic circles (Anarfi et al., 2005; Awumbila et al., 2011). In many developing countries, migration flows have increased with globalization and urbanisation (Skeldon, 2005). While people migrate for several reasons, job-related migration accounts for a significant proportion of international mobility (de Haas, 2008).
Labour migration is a direct response to real wage differences, and the volume of migration is positively related to wage differentials (Skeldon, 1997; Anarfi et al., 2010). Globally, health workers are among the professionals with very high rates of emigration (Dovlo, 2005; Serour, 2009). The Pacific Island and Sub-Saharan Africa are the leading continents with...