Africa's 'brain drain' from the US, says experts

CNN Two Africans Covid Experts are counting their desks and clearing as they prepare to take up new roles offered to them overseas.

John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Africa CDC has welcomed his September nomination to lead the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief PEPFAR - position which, if confirmed by the US Senate, would be the first African to hold.

Earlier the same month, Chikwe Ihekweazu, who currently heads the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control NCDC, was appointed to lead the World Health Organization WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in the German capital Berlin, WHO said, with the Nigerian physician on course to assume his new position on 1 November.

Some experts assert that this coincidental turn of events underscores the healthcare industry brain drain from Africa.

That's brain drain, said Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, a former president of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors.

They Okhuaihesuyi and Nkengasong see better offers and they feel it's better to leave for greener pastures to further their careers, Nkengasong & Ihekweazu told CNN. In his opinion, now is not the best time for leave, he added.

If not managed well, higher demand for health workers, especially in specialities like anaesthesiology, will leave significant gaps in Africa's already weak health systems, the report said.

Many high-income countries were relaxing visa and migration requirements for health workers in order to meet that demand, said the AU.

Without the right policies in place, tackling the brain drain from Africa will become an even more challenging endeavour, inevitably leading to an increase in global inequality and neglect of already inadequate health systems. Nothing to worry about Nkengasong's imminent exit from the Africa CDC has fueled concerns about the sustainability of the institution's covid -19 action plan.

Nkengasong however said CNN there was nothing to worry about.

CDC has a very strong leadership in place, he said. As of right now, I am not at all worried. The organization is rock solid. On his part, Nigeria's Ihekweazu told CNN that he had built the NCDC to overdose any single leader. In the last five years, we have built structures, systems, and people at NCDC with the vision that these will outlive any single leader, he said. I am very proud of the work we have done and confident that the 500 members of staff who have led this journey will sustain this beyond my time as DIRECTOR General, added Ihekweazu.

Reacting to comments that his move to the WHO's $100 million Pandemic Hub worsens Africa's medical brain drain, Ihekweazu argued: I think my move to WHO strengthens Africa's position in the world! According to WHO, the hub, which is funded by German government, was established to better prepare and protect the world from global disease threats and will play key roles in helping to monitor new events with pandemic potential and to detect disease control measures on a real-time basis. Ihekweazu told CNN that his work in Africa is strongly committed to seeing the African countries grow from being just participants in the consumption of vaccines and other technologies to others in basic sciences and research that leads to them. He added: I believe my new role at the WHO Pandemic Hub provides an opportunity to contribute to this growth process for Nigeria and the African region - working closely with other colleagues. Africa's health secretary Charles Mwansambo told CNN that Nkengasong and Ihekweazu's move to strategic positions will benefit Malawi.

We need to start looking at these movements positively because they are good for the continent. The more Africans are serving in strategic positions, the better Africa will be served, he said, adding that Nkengasong's new role at PEPFAR would be crucial to Africa's HIV/AIDS response.

HIV is here with us, but there are other conditions like HIV that have been with us for some time. So, getting an African here at PEPFAR will make a whole difference to the fight against HIV AIDS on the continent. PEPFAR has some great influence in Africa in the fight against HIV AIDS in Malawi which is a major beneficiary. It's a good move for the continent, Mwansambo said.

Nkengasong could potentially fill the leadership vacuum at PEPFAR, which has been without a leader for nearly two years.

Steve Ahuka, incident manager of the Covid 19 response in the Democratic Republic of Congo, told CNN that he hopes Nkengasong and Ihekweazu will be as passionate as their predecessors in the fight against infectious diseases.

Though we would prefer to have them Nkengasong and Ihekweazu during this moment when the African continent is facing the Covid crisis - 19 conflict, the fight against infectious diseases is done as a team. I hope Nkengasong and Ihekweazu have built a strong team in Africa CDC, and their successors will continue to fight the Covid crisis, Ahuka said.

Nkengasong, a member of Africa CDC's governing board, told CNN that Githinji Gitahi will be difficult to replace. Nkengasong has built a formidable reputation for Africa CDC and attracted partners and resources that have enabled it to fully realize its mandate of coordination of disease surveillance and response. He will be very much missed, he said.

Gitahi wants regional centers of the Africa CDC to be strengthened, so that the power of the parent organization is devolved.

However, he said it was important that Nkengasong and Ihekweazu moved to institutions that have a huge impact on the health of African people and their health security. A spokesperson for Uganda's health ministry, Ainebyoona Emmanuel, told CNN Nkengasong and Ihekweazu that the exit from the continent is not a brain drain but instead mentoring African leaders moving to global leaders.