Inter-governmental organisation, the Commonwealth Foundation, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Medical Association, stands to improve the state of Commonwealth healthcare by strengthening the local professional workforce, when it hosts the first of its regional symposiums looking at issues around the migration of health workers in New Delhi, India on 17 to 18 November 2008.
Migration of healthcare workers was recorded as a cause for concern at the civil society gathering, the Commonwealth People's Forum, ahead of the November 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, where calls were made to Commonwealth governments to become self sufficient in their health workforce in response to the chronic drain of trained personnel from poor to rich countries inside and outside the Commonwealth's 53 countries.
On a per capita basis, Asia is the region most affected by the dearth of health personnel, requiring three million health workers, including doctors, nurses, midwives, hospital technicians and clinical staff, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Many Asian health workers are particularly lured away from serving in their own region by the demand for health professionals in industrialized countries.
The two-day symposium will share information and country experience on efforts to better manage the migration of health workers. The event will bring together professionals through Commonwealth Associations and governments, a partnership that is an important element of the Commonwealth Foundation's work.
"This is not an issue that can be addressed by governments alone, nor can it be solved by civil society working in isolation, so we are pleased that the Commonwealth Foundation has brought both sides together to tackle this important issue," said Jill Iliffe Executive Secretary of the Commonwealth Nurses Federation (CNF). "Many nurses from developing countries do not choose to migrate," Iliffe explained. "They feel forced to migrate because of the difficult economic circumstances in their own countries and the attractive initiatives offered them from developed countries which cannot be matched at home. The CNF is concerned about the exploitation of nurses from developing countries once they arrive in developed countries." The CNF is one of five Commonwealth health professional associations joining the Commonwealth Medical Association, Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association, the Commonwealth Dental Association and the Commonwealth Association of Mental, Handicap and Developmental Disabilities that will be involved in the symposium and consequently will be heard as a critical voice in ongoing national, regional and international debates around health worker migration.
The Commonwealth Secretariat has been working on promoting the managed migration of health workers since 1998, demonstrated in particular by the introduction of the Commonwealth Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health workers in 2003, in response to concerns about the impact of unethical international recruitment on the health workforce in many Commonwealth countries". The Commonwealth Code of Practice offers Commonwealth governments offered guidance on the issue of health worker migration and is the first multi-lateral agreement of its kind to provide good practice on managing the human resource issues of healthcare professionals. The Honorable Nimal Siripala de Silva, Chair of the World Health Organisation's Executive Board and Sri Lankan Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition said that the Commonwealth Code of Practice was important guidance for governments to access. "What Commonwealth governments have been presented with here is a real opportunity to improve healthcare in their country by working together with civil society and following the good guidance that this partnership has formed," said de Silva.
The symposium aims to equip representatives from Commonwealth health professional associations with up-to-date knowledge on the issues surrounding the use of codes of practice and strengthening their knowledge and skills to enable effective advocacy strategies aimed at lobbying governments to address the health worker shortages. It also aims to share and identify appropriate strategies for recruitment and retention of health workers.
The efforts to improve the retention of local healthcare professionals will continue with a regional event hosted by the Commonwealth Nurses Federation and the Commonwealth Foundation in Botswana, Africa, February 2009.
1. The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation resourced by and reporting to Commonwealth governments, and guided by Commonwealth values and priorities. Its mandate is to strengthen civil society in the achievement of Commonwealth priorities - democracy and good governance, respect for human rights and gender equality, poverty eradication and sustainable, people-centred development, and to promote culture.
2. The Commonwealth Foundation, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Medical Association (CMA) will convene a regional two-day symposium on the migration of health workers with particular focus on the Commonwealth Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health Workers in New Delhi, India on 17 - 18 November 2008. This symposium is particularly aimed at members of the Commonwealth professional bodies in the Asian region working in the area of health and will include the Commonwealth Medical Association (CMA), Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association (CPA), Commonwealth Nurses Federation (CNF), the Commonwealth Dental Association (CDA) and the Commonwealth Association of Mental, Handicap and Developmental Disabilities (CAMHADD).
3. In 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that more than four million health care workers are needed to address the dire shortage of health care workers. On a regional basis, 63% of the global shortage exists in Africa. On a per capita basis, Asia is the most affected by the dearth of health care personnel. According to the WHO, Asia requires three of the four million health care workers, which includes doctors, nurses, midwives, hospital technicians and clinical staff. The shortage of health care workers in industrialised countries exacerbates the migration of health care workers especially those from Southeast Asia and Africa. Source: World Health Organization (WHO, 2008) who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs302/en.
4. Commonwealth Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health Workers: The Commonwealth has been working with governments to assist them in addressing issues related to the management of human resources for health and to share experiences of good practice among countries. In 1998, Commonwealth Health Ministers raised concerns about health worker migration, particularly of nurses. In 2001 Ministers asked the Commonwealth Secretariat's Health Section to draft a Code to protect the most vulnerable states from unmanaged migration and to protect the rights of migrating health workers. The Code was drafted with senior health officials from all regions of the Commonwealth, health professional associations, trade unions and the International Labour Organization. It was adopted together with its companion document by Commonwealth Health Ministers in May 2003. It was the first multilateral agreement of its kind. Since 2003 the Commonwealth Secretariat has disseminated the Code in all regions of the Commonwealth to human resource (HR) managers from Ministries of Health and groups of health professionals including professional associations and trade unions to raise awareness of the issues and consider strategies to address staff shortages in the health sector.
Source
Rowena Harding
Communications Officer
Commonwealth Foundation
Marlborough House
Pall Mall
London SW1Y 5HY
United Kingdom
commonwealthfoundation
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