Ghana is experiencing a shortage of nurses , this trend intensified after the COVID-19 pandemic. An estimated 6,000 nurses and other health workers left Ghana in 2024 alone seeking work abroad.
There are several key factors driving this migration to high-income countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland and others.
Low wages and delayed or unpaid salaries for nurses contribute to the migration trend, poor working conditions and infrastructure, leading to burnout and stress also play a part.
Ghana’s medical facilities suffers from overwhelming workloads with too few staff, some wards have far more patients per nurse than recommended.
What attracts nurses to high-income countries are higher salaries, better working conditions, and modern health facilities.
Some of these countries has systems put in place to help professionals with immigration and professional pathways .
The exodus is more than just numbers, it threatens the functioning of Ghana’s health system, also Ghana loses the investment made in training nurses when they relocate abroad.
Rural and underserved areas are hit hardest as they are overworked, leading to burnout and potential declines in quality of care provided.
The Ghanaian government has signed bilateral agreements to send nurses to countries like Jamaica, Grenada and Barbados, framing it as job creation. Critics say this worsens domestic shortages.
There’s debate about whether Ghana truly has a surplus of nurses — some official figures suggest unemployment among newly trained nurses, but on-the-ground shortages persist.
This migration of nurses from lower-income countries to richer ones is part of a broader global pattern where high-income health systems recruit from countries with workforce shortages — despite World Health Organization guidance discouraging active recruitment from countries facing critical health worker gaps.
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