The United Kingdom has positioned Nigeria on the list of nations from which health and social care employers should not actively recruit.
In its revised “Code of Practice” for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel, the United Kingdom made the change.
The health workforce support and safeguards list of the World Health Organization (WHO) is the source of the red list, where Nigeria now resides.
In March, the WHO published a list of 55 countries, including Nigeria, that are experiencing a shortage of health personnel.
The government of the United Kingdom stated that Nigeria and other countries on the red list should be given priority for health personnel development and health system-related support, as well as safeguards to discourage the active international recruitment of their workers.
The code of practise states, “Countries on the list should not be actively targeted for recruitment by health and social care employers, recruitment organisations, agencies, collaborations, or contracting bodies unless a government-to-government agreement is in place to allow managed recruitment to be conducted strictly in accordance with the terms of that agreement.”
The United Kingdom, however, stated that the list does not prevent health and social care personnel from countries on the red list from applying “independently” for employment in the country, “without being targeted by a recruitment agency or employer.”
The code of practise also states that “ethical recruitment is determined by the individual’s country of residence, rather than their nationality or the country in which they received their initial training.” This means that restrictions do not apply if a health worker is a national of a red list country but does not reside there or in another red list country.
The United Kingdom has also stated that a country can be added to the amber list if a government-to-government agreement is established with a partner nation that restricts recruiting organisations to the terms of the agreement.
Both Kenya and Nepal are on the amber list.
Countries that are not on the red or amber lists are deemed “green,” and active recruitment is permitted if a government-to-government agreement exists with the United Kingdom.
