WHO Europe Ministers focus on health worker migration.

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A WHO report, "How can the migration of health service professionals be managed so as to reduce any negative effects on supply?" was prepared for the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Health Systems, which took place in June in Tallinn, Estonia.

It highlights the need for governments to better manage health personnel migration, by improving data collection and developing policies to reduce negative effects. Such action is critical to ensuring solid and functioning health systems in both source countries--those that health workers leave--and destination countries--those recruiting and receiving increased numbers of migrant health workers.

The international mobility of health professionals has been a feature of the global health agenda since the late 1990s. Health worker migration can solve staff shortages in some countries, assist countries with an oversupply of staff and enable individual health workers...