2025/10/03 by EKWOABA, JOY ONYINYECHI, Ekwoaba, David Ikechukwu
#Health workers welfare #Healthcare workforce #Labour migration #Security #Young healthcare professionals
paper · doi:10.82265/d9w3-rv13
Nations of the world has the obligation to have appropriate representation of the health care professionals in their regions to enhance the universal coverage of their citizens. Young health care professionals who perhaps, can easily adapt to globalizations have become the new target for labour migration in Nigeria. This might be occasioned by the gap or deficit created by COVID-19 deaths in the developed world. The study therefore, engaged students on the verge of graduation to elicit the local factors driving their perception for labour migration. The study utilized simple random sampling technique to get to the prospective respondents. The copies of quantitative questionnaires were administered to 384 final year students studying medicine, nursing, and other paramedical sciences (medical laboratory science, pharmacy and physiotherapy). The data collected were analyzed using ordinal regression. The results show that perception about national security (B = 1.615, p < 0.001) and health workers’ welfare challenges (B = 1.160, p < 0.001) are the driving force for endorsing labour migration for young healthcare professionals. This perception for labour migration might create challenges for our health indices such as perceived maternal and child morbidity and mortality, among others, and the nations strive to achieving some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) might be threatened. There is therefore, need for stakeholders in the healthcare sector to come up with inclusive strategic plans that could ameliorate the brain drain in the health sector.