The United Kingdom’s revised code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel in England has placed Nigeria and 53 other countries on the red list of countries that should not be actively targeted for recruitment by health and social care employers.
According to the UK government’s website, “Consistent with the WHO Global Code of Practice principles and articles, and as explicitly called for by the WHO Global Code of Practice 10-year review, the listed countries should be prioritised for health personnel development and health system-related support, provided with safeguards that discourage active international recruitment of health personnel.
“countries on the red list should not be actively targeted for recruitment by health and social care employers, recruitment organisations, agencies, collaborations, or contracting bodies unless there is a government-to-government agreement in place to allow managed recruitment undertaken strictly in compliance with the terms of that agreement.
“Countries on the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards list are graded red in the code. If a government-to-government agreement is put in place between a partner country, which restricts recruiting organisations to the terms of the agreement, the country is added to the amber list.
“The government-to-government agreement may set parameters, implemented by the country of origin, for how UK employers, contracting bodies, recruitment organisations, agencies, and collaborations recruit. These organisations are encouraged to recruit on the terms of the government-to-government agreement.”
This applies to all international health and social care personnel in the UK, including all permanent, temporary, and locum staff in clinical and non-clinical settings, such as allied health professionals, care workers, dentists, doctors, healthcare scientists, medical staff, midwives, nursing staff, residential and domiciliary care workers, social workers, and support staff.
Here is the list of countries on the red list of ‘No active recruitment’:
Afghanistan
Angola
Bangladesh
Benin
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Congo
Democratic Republic of Congo
Côte d’Ivoire
Djibouti
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gabon
The Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Haiti
Kiribati
Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Lesotho
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Federated States of Micronesia
Mozambique
Niger
Nigeria
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Rwanda
Samoa
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Sudan
Sudan
United Republic of Tanzania
Timor-Leste
Togo
Tuvalu
Uganda
Vanuatu
Republic of Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe.
The UK’s stance is that health and social care organizations in England do not actively recruit from those countries the WHO recognises as having the most pressing health and care workforce-related challenges unless there is a government-to-government agreement to support managed recruitment activities.
