Workforce mobility, characterized by the frequent movement and attrition of skilled health workers, represents a fundamental determinant of poor service delivery outcomes in Nigeria’s health sector. Mobility is a systemic challenge encompassing both internal shifts (movement between employers or geographies within Nigeria) and external migration (brain drain). This instability poses an urgent crisis, especially concerning high-mobility, highly skilled professionals such as doctors, nurses, and midwives, who are critical to maintaining services like maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (RMNCAH) outcomes.
The Profound Impact of Workforce Mobility The high rate of mobility and attrition across Nigeria’s health sector severely compromises
the quality and continuity of care:
1. Chronic Staffing Gaps and Service Disruptions: The internal movement of professionals—who often seek better remuneration to fund prerequisites like licensing exams and migration costs—fuels chronic staffing gaps across hospitals. This mobility undermines service continuity and leads to frequent service disruptions. The problem isacute in the private sector, where a 2022 study showed that 56% of frontline health
workers planned to leave their roles within one year, indicating severe attrition risk even before international migration is factored in.
2. Weakened Quality of Care and Access: Healthcare workforce migration worsens the existing shortage of professionals, directly contributing to adverse patient outcomes. Consequences include longer waiting times, reduced patient-to-provider ratios, and limited access to specialized care. Ultimately, this situation results in a decreased quality of healthcare services.
3. Increased Financial Costs and System Vulnerability: Excessive turnover and migration drive up turnover-related costs for hospitals, impacting the financial viability of healthcare providers. Furthermore, the lack of sufficient human resources weakens the entire
healthcare system’s ability to respond effectively to public health challenges. Nigeria is particularly vulnerable, falling significantly below the WHO recommendation for skilled health worker density.
ManagedMedics’ Strategy to Stabilize the Workforce
The ManagedMedics (MM) digital platform was designed specifically to address the operational challenges presented by high health worker mobility, aiming for better recruitment, management, and retention of qualified medics.
1. Predictive Workforce Planning: MM counters instability by employing a Mobility Score algorithm. This score tracks job continuity and reliability metrics, giving hospitals predictive insight into the likelihood of a professional staying or leaving their current role (turnover risk). By tracking the Mobility Score (a monetizable service available to hospitals for 1 token per medic per month), facilities can receive early attrition warnings and engage in more strategic workforce planning.
2. Incentivizing Retention and Stability: The platform combats a core driver of internal mobility—the need for funds for professional development—by integrating embedded financing. Medics who maintain healthy or strong mobility scores are granted eligibility for critical educational grants and low-interest loans. This financial support helps professionals cover the costs of specialty certifications, licensing exams, and Continuing
Professional Development (CPD) courses.
3. Building Long-Term Resilience: By offering financial incentives linked to stability, ManagedMedics aims to reduce the internal migration of medics driven by limited professional opportunities. This integrated approach is intended to produce a scalable, digital-first solution that improves workforce competency and enhances retention, thereby strengthening service continuity and improving the overall quality of care across the
health sector.