[afro-nets] International Migration and the Millennium Development Goals

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

International Migration and the Millennium Development Goals
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From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC)

International Migration and the Millennium Development Goals

Selected Papers of the UNFPA Expert Group Meeting
United Nations Population Fund, ISBN: 0-89714-755-3 - September
2005

Available online as PDF file (261 pp. 1.6 MB!) at:
http://www.unfpa.org/upload/lib_pub_file/487_filename_migration_report_2005.pdf

HEALTH CARE BRAIN DRAIN THREATENS TO OVERWHELM DEVELOPING WORLD
- UN REPORT New York, Sep 28 2005

The loss of workers to migration is overwhelming the developing
world's health-care systems as qualified personnel leave for
wealthier industrialized countries, according to a new report
released by the United Nations Population Fund.

Coupled with a resurgence of infectious diseases and the
HIV/AIDS pandemic, migration is "exacerbating" an already
"acute" shortage of health care workers in Africa. The report,
International Migration and the Millennium Development Goals,
said that poor countries, many of them with the fewest health-
care workers but highest infectious disease burden, are "subsi-
dizing" the health-care systems of wealthier countries [UN Press
release]

The growing interest in and visibility of international migra-
tion and the 5-year review of progress towards achievement of
the Millennium Development Goals provided UNFPA with a good op-
portunity to convene recently an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) to
analyze the interface between International Migration and the
MDGs. The EGM discussed international migration as both a fa-
cilitating and constraining factor in the achievement of MDGs.

The meeting also provided information for policy makers in plan-
ning and policy development on best practices in this complex
area. Invited experts were requested to speak on a number of
topics relating to migration and development, including poverty
reduction, health, gender, environment and global partnerships
for development. This report is a compilation of selected papers
presented at the meeting.