Global health workforce education in an era of austerity and privatization

Rich country government budgets significantly contracted, after an initial flirtation with stimulus funding, following the severe wordwide recession in the fall of 2008. After banks, insurance companies and major manufacturers in the U.S. were bailed out by government, public sector budgets were significantly curtailed in response to right-wing calls for austerity measures.

Meanwhile, the migration of health professionals from low-income countries to rich ones continues unabated, resulting in a perverse form of reverse foreign aid. This flow could increase, depending on the outcome of decisions about the Affordable Care Act. The U.S. and other rich country demands for health professionals have generated a market for private schools to train physicians and nurses in low-income countries, with a variety of consequences.

Currently, most medical and nursing education in the U.S. is supported by cash-strapped states. With diminishing federal training grant subsidies we raise concerns about the capacity of the U.S. to train a self-sufficient number of health professionals as is required by the World Health Organization's Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel.