Crossing the Bridge

This important study looks at the Brain Drain of African medical professionals to Western countries. The migration of these medical professionals from Africa to Western countries underlies the burden of the African medical crisis through the prism of the lack of infrastructures, funding for better schools, lack of recruitment from the government due to the economic and financial crisis that many African countries have faced for more than two decades. The departure of these first line workers highlights the difficulties for many African governments to fight against various infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. This book outlines skilled migration and reveals the underlying motivations of Western countries to recruit these medical professionals. At the same time, the African countries lack the political will to legislate measures that would prevent this mass migration of highly trained professionals. This book is a great resource for academics, political leaders, migration specialists as well as the general public who will find interesting data regarding the reasons African medical professionals are leaving their countries for the Western world.