Health services

International migration has become an accepted feature of globalized labour markets in health care, yet the effects of international migration of health-service workers on the nations supplying the workers are cause for concern. There is a growing shortage of health-care workers in developed countries. This shortage is being increasingly filled with migrant nurses and other health-care workers from developing countries. While migrant health workers are a source of remittances for their families and countries, migration affects supplying nations through a loss of qualified and experienced performers, weakening national health systems capacity in providing quality health care. The impact of migration on the individuals and their families can be acute: an ever-increasing number of women health-care professionals are migrating, with family and social consequences that are not yet fully understood.

At its 292nd (March 2005) Session, the Governing Body of the ILO approved the launching of an Action Programme on "The International Migration of Health Service Workers: The Supply Side" for the 2006-07 biennium. The programme relied on collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The health-care worker supplying countries have been exploring the effects of health-worker migration on these countries, analysing their existing migration policies and practices, and identifying the lessons learned and best practices.

Following the initial action programme, the Kenyan Ministry of Labour and National Unions were interested in continuing to address health worker migration. For more information about the work of Public Services International and the Kenyan national unions please refer to their web page.

Countries covered: Costa Rica, Kenya, Romania, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Trinidad and Tobago