Ghana, 53 others on UK’s red list for health workers’ recruitment

Ghana has been included in a list of 54 countries that should not be actively targeted for recruitment by health and social care employers.

The UK government made this disclosure in its updated code of practice for hiring health and social care professionals from abroad, which was made public on the NHS Employers website.

When actively seeking health or social care personnel, the Code of Conduct for International Recruiting states that some developing nations including Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Cote d’Ivoire shouldn’t be targeted.

According to a press release on the NHS website, the mentioned nations have a UHC Service Coverage Index below 50 and a density of physicians, nurses, and midwives that is lower than the median for the world (48.6 per 10,000 population).

The list, according to the UK government, is based on the WHO Workforce Support and Safeguard List, 2023, and it will be updated together with updates on the implementation of the WHO Global Code and reported to the World Health Assembly every three years.

The list, however, does not bar an individual health and social care worker applying on their own will to a health and social care company for employment in the UK without being targeted by a third party, such as a recruiting agency or employer (known as a direct application).

The countries placed on the red list of ‘No active recruitment’ under the code are 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.

The rest are 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, and Zimbabwe.