Global health and care worker migration requires a global response

IF 3.6 3区医学 Q1 HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES

Health Policy Pub Date : 2025-03-28 DOI:10.1016/j.healthpol.2025.105305

Ellen Kuhlmann , Michelle Falkenbach , Tiago Correia , Niamh Humphries , Eleanor Hutchinson , Gareth H Rees , Marius-Ionut Ungureanu , Tomas Zapata , Julia Lohmann

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Abstract

The global migration of the health and care workforce (HCWF) has intensified, leading to complex policy scenarios and diverse migration patterns. While the traditional narrative of individual health and care workers (HCWs) migrating from low- and middle-income countries to high-income countries in search of higher income, career prospects and working conditions remains relevant, it now coexists with many other drivers, incentives, and dynamics at individual and policy level. The evolving dynamics of HCW migration have profound implications extending far beyond health labour markets, influencing broader societal and political landscapes. Despite their significance, the qualitative shifts in HCWF migration patterns and the governance challenges they present are poorly understood and under-researched, and policies have thus been limited in their effectiveness. In this policy comment we argue for a global response and an enhanced focus on policy implementation, using selected case studies to illustrate the argument. The cases highlight complexities of HCW migration patterns and opportunities for strengthening implementation of the WHO Global Code of Practice to respond effectively to the diverse needs of health systems and individual HCWs.

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全球卫生和保健工作者移徙需要全球应对

卫生和保健工作人员的全球移徙加剧，导致复杂的政策情景和多样化的移徙模式。虽然卫生保健工作者个人从低收入和中等收入国家向高收入国家迁移以寻求更高收入、职业前景和工作条件的传统说法仍然具有相关性，但它现在与个人和政策层面的许多其他驱动因素、激励措施和动态并存。卫生保健工作者移徙不断变化的动态所产生的深远影响远远超出了卫生劳动力市场，影响到更广泛的社会和政治格局。尽管具有重要意义，但人们对HCWF迁移模式的定性转变及其带来的治理挑战知之甚少，研究不足，因此政策的有效性受到限制。在这篇政策评论中，我们主张全球应对并加强对政策实施的关注，并使用选定的案例研究来说明这一论点。这些案例突出了卫生工作者移徙模式的复杂性，以及加强实施世卫组织全球行为守则以有效应对卫生系统和个别卫生工作者不同需求的机会。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Health Policy 医学-卫生保健

CiteScore

6.40

自引率

6.10%

发文量

157

审稿时长

3-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Health Policy is intended to be a vehicle for the exploration and discussion of health policy and health system issues and is aimed in particular at enhancing communication between health policy and system researchers, legislators, decision-makers and professionals concerned with developing, implementing, and analysing health policy, health systems and health care reforms, primarily in high-income countries outside the U.S.A.