Brain drain: a challenge to global mental health
Open accessAbstract
The brain drain of medical professionals from lower-income to higher-income countries contributes to the current inequity that characterises access to mental healthcare by those in need across the world and hinders efforts to scale up mental health services in resource-constrained settings, especially in Nigeria and other West African countries. The migration of skilled workers is driven by a combination of the globalisation of the labour market and the ability of highly resourced countries to attract and retain specialists from poorer countries. If we are to ameliorate the worldwide shortage of mental health professionals, we need to find innovative ways of attracting young doctors into psychiatric training in all countries. We must also introduce measures to improve health worker retention in low- and middle-income countries.
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Low-income and middle-income countries have 0.1 psychiatrists per 1,000,000 people, compared to 90 psychiatrists per 1,000,000 people in high-income countries.
“there are 0.1 psychiatrists per 1,000,000 people [7], compared to 90 psychiatrists per 1,000,000 people in high-income countries [8].”
From Effectiveness and safety of using chatbots to improve mental health: systematic review and meta-analysis (2020) · cites this paper as [7]
People in developing countries may be more in need of chatbots than those in developed countries because developing countries have a greater shortage of mental health professionals (0.1 per 1,000,000 vs 9 per 100,000).
“People in developing countries may be more in need of chatbots than those in developed countries given that developing countries have a greater shortage of mental health professionals than developed countries (0.1 per 1,000,000 people vs 9 per 100,000 people) [7,8].”
From Effectiveness and safety of using chatbots to improve mental health: systematic review and meta-analysis (2020) · cites this paper as [7]
Low income countries have as few as 0.1 psychiatrists for every 1,000,000 people.
“low income countries have as few as 0.1 for every 1,000,000 people [8].”
From An overview of the features of chatbots in mental health: A scoping review (2019) · cites this paper as [8]
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- Authors
- Oladeji, B. D., & Gureje, O.
- Affiliations
- University of Ibadan (NG)
- Corresponding author
- Oladeji, Bibilola D.
- Venue
- BJPsych. International
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2016-08
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 61-63
- ISSN
- 2056-4740 (ISSN-L)
- 2058-6264
- PMC
- PMC5618877
- OpenAlex
- W2783791147
- Cited by
- 79
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 5.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- BJPsych International (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Emergency Medical Services › Global Health Workforce Issues
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Global Health and Surgery
- Keywords
- brain drain, mental health professionals, skilled migration, health workforce shortage, mental health inequities, access to mental health care, health workforce retention, psychiatric training, low- and middle-income countries, West Africa, Nigeria
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