Africa has a critical shortage of healthcare workers, with a deficit of 2.4 million doctors and nurses. The continent has 1.55 healthcare workers(doctors, nurses, midwives) per 1000 population, below the WHO threshold density of 4.45 needed to deliver essential health services and achieve universal health coverage.- _World Health Organization WHO_
In Nigeria, challenges contributing to labor market tensions in the medical field include high emigration of doctors and nurses abroad, low income, inadequate replacement of departing health workers, maldistribution of doctors and nurses across regions. _USAID Health Workforce Management and the Nigeria health commissioners’ Forum_ HWM & (NHCF) 2023
Nigeria loses between 20-30% of the doctors it produces annually to health worker migration. _USAID Health Workforce Management and the Nigeria health commissioners’ Forum_ HWM & (NHCF) 2023
56% of frontline health workers (Doctors, nurses, midwives) in private hospitals plan to leave the hospital within 1 year. _Salau et al 2022_ Turnover intention survey among 782 health workers in 4 large private secondary hospitals in Southern Nigeria