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Losing your doctors, engineers, professors and other skilled professionals can be detrimental to your country. Brain drain is a topic with which many countries deal.
In a September 2015 open letter in Le Monde, the heads of 10 successful French start-ups pleaded with Silicon Valley expatriates to come back to a revived Paris full of new opportunities. China is another country where hundreds of thousands of educated professionals leave for education and work experience. Some return. Some do not.
Africa is no exception. The push and pull factors of this brain drain are wide-ranging and complex, and depend upon the African country. One might be ‘forced’ to leave because of war and/or political instability. The attraction of higher pay and better opportunities for one’s family might pull them away.
From the 1950s to 1960s, the term brain drain was first coined by the British Royal Society to describe the pronounced migration of scientists from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada.
Developing from its original context, the term currently refers to the emigration of a country’s highly skilled individuals. It usually encompasses movement of university-trained individuals from developing to developed countries.
Dr. Lala Ben Barka, Deputy Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN ECA) warned in 2005 that, in 25 years time, “Africa will be empty of brains”
African professionals moving to West to seek greener pastures is considered by the commission as one of the impediments for the continent’s development.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that Africa has already lost one third of its skilled labor since 1990.
Brain drain is a serious problem in Africa where there’s a limited pool of qualified individuals to begin with. Education standards across much of Africa mean producing top talent is a challenge in itself and holding onto the modest pool of talent is proving difficult.
Countries like Burundi end up paying for the education of its best talent only to have it taken away at the crucial moment. Its best medical talent, engineering minds and even military personnel.
Research shows that younger Africans studying abroad would often prefer to return home, rather than staying in their host countries. However, safety concerns and economic issues are obvious deterrents for people from countries like Nigeria where religious & civil violence and economic struggles are prevalent.
