Africa-emigrate
Africa seeks to plug the "brain drain"
ADDIS ABABA, Feb 22 (AFP) - African nations must act quickly to reverse
the
"brain drain" of 20,000 skilled professionals a year emigrating to Europe
and
the United States, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) warned
Tuesday.
"We have to turn the net loss of skilled professionals into a net gain
if
we are not to be even further marginalised," said Joseph Ngu, an ECA
economic
analyst, in Addis Ababa at the start of a conference addressing the problem.
Emigration by skilled workers trained in Africa has increased in recent
years due to economic hardship, political instability and the continent's
poor
record on human rights.
According to organisers, Africa lost 60,000 scientists, doctors,
engineers
and technology specialists between 1985 and 1990.
A 1993 report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
estimates
that more than 21,000 Nigerian doctors have resettled in the United States,
with the result that the country's health system is now lacking
professional
expertise.
The same report discloses that 60 percent of Ghana's locally trained
doctors quit the country during the 1980s.
The UNDP estimates that 100,000 foreign professionals work in Africa
while
100,000 Africans trained in their native country have been lured to Europe
and
the United States.
"We have two choices, to do nothing and see ourselves completely
marginalised, or to adopt concrete measures to create an environment which
African professionals will not want to leave," Ngu said.
Meanwhile, the effects of the "brain drain" in Zimbabwe were highlighted
Tuesday by official statistics which revealed that an average 300
Zimbabweans
-- unskilled as well as professionals -- emigrate each month.
"It's no doubt that this (brain drain) is quite a big problem for
Zimbabwe
and other African countries," said Anders Wenstrom, a regional programme
advisor with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
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