第2232期:Poorly-paid Healthcare Workers Leaving Africa

Cameroon has one of the world's lowest amounts of health care workers per capita. About a third of trained doctors who completed medical school last year left the West African country. Many doctors and nurses are leaving for more well-paying jobs in Europe and North America, including Canada.喀麦隆是世界上人均医疗工作者数量最低的国家之一。去年完成医学院学业的受训医生中约有三分之一离开了这个西非国家。许多医生和护士前往欧洲和北美洲（包括加拿大）寻找薪资更高的工作。Canada, like Cameroon, has official languages of English and French.加拿大和喀麦隆一样，官方语言是英语和法语。After training as a nurse, Nevielle Leinyuy spent almost 10 years in Cameroon working as a front desk worker. He was unable to find a well-paying job in the medical field. Last year, he applied for a nursing program in Canada. He now lives there with his wife and children.经过护士培训后，内维尔·莱尼尤在喀麦隆做了近十年的前台工作人员。他无法在医疗领域找到一份高薪工作。去年，他申请了加拿大的一个护理项目。现在他和妻子及孩子们住在加拿大。“They are stealing us from Cameroon. We want to work in Cameroon but there is no pay,” the 39-year-old Leinyuy said.39岁的莱尼尤说：“他们在从喀麦隆抢走我们。我们想在喀麦隆工作，但没有报酬。”He said he would have earned less than $100 a month working as a nurse in Cameroon.他说，如果在喀麦隆当护士，他每月的收入不会超过100美元。Cameroon is not the only sub-Saharan African country where low pay is causing health workers to leave.喀麦隆并不是唯一一个因低薪导致医务人员离开的撒哈拉以南非洲国家。The number of health workers increased in several countries after the COVID-19 pandemic. But almost 75 percent of African nations still experience medical worker shortages and high rates of healthcare workers leaving to work overseas. That information comes from a 2023 report from the World Health Organization (WHO).在新冠疫情之后，几个国家的医务人员数量有所增加。但近75%的非洲国家仍面临医务人员短缺和高比例的医务人员外流。这些信息来自世界卫生组织（WHO）2023年的报告。The lack of health workers makes it difficult to deal with infant mortality and infectious diseases. It also makes it hard to provide services like vaccinations, said Matshidiso Moeti. He is the WHO regional director for Africa.WHO非洲区域主任玛茜迪索·莫伊提表示，医务人员的缺乏使得处理婴儿死亡率和传染病变得困难，也使得提供疫苗接种等服务变得困难。Cameroon has fewer than seven nurses per 10,000 people, the latest WHO data found. Neighboring Nigeria has more than double that amount. Canada has more than 14 times that number.最新的WHO数据显示，喀麦隆每一万人中不到七名护士。邻国尼日利亚的护士数量是喀麦隆的两倍多。加拿大的护士数量是喀麦隆的十四倍以上。Marie-Pier Burelle is a spokesperson for Health Canada. She told The Associated Press that Canada is facing its own health workforce shortages. The country has 30,000 nursing positions it needs to fill, says Statistics Canada.加拿大卫生部发言人玛丽·皮尔·布雷尔告诉美联社，加拿大也面临着医疗工作者短缺的问题。据加拿大统计局称，加拿大有3万个护理岗位需要填补。Burelle said Canada follows the WHO’s code of practice to make sure its recruitment of workers internationally is ethical. Ethical recruitment includes strengthening the health systems of developing countries dealing with medical worker shortages.布雷尔表示，加拿大遵循WHO的行为准则，确保其国际招聘符合伦理。伦理招聘包括加强应对医务人员短缺的发展中国家的卫生系统。Late last year, the Canadian government donated around $2.2 million to Cameroon's health ministry. It also delivered medical and monitoring equipment as part of Canada's Global Initiative for Vaccine Equity.去年年底，加拿大政府向喀麦隆卫生部捐赠了约220万美元，并作为加拿大全球疫苗公平倡议的一部分，提供了医疗和监测设备。But such support falls short of Cameroon’s needs.但这种支持无法满足喀麦隆的需求。Cameroon’s government employs around 100 doctors each year for a population of around 28 million people, said Dr. Peter Louis Ndifor. He is the vice president of the Cameroon Medical Council, a doctors association.喀麦隆医学会（一个医生协会）的副主席彼得·路易斯·恩迪福尔博士表示，喀麦隆政府每年雇佣大约100名医生，而喀麦隆的人口约为2800万。The Canadian province of Nova Scotia, by comparison, has a population of under a million people. It recruited around 155 doctors last year, health officials say.相比之下，加拿大的新斯科舍省人口不到一百万。据卫生官员称，该省去年招募了大约155名医生。The shortage of health workers is just part of Cameroon's current health crisis.医务人员短缺只是喀麦隆当前健康危机的一部分。More than 210 health centers closed because of destruction or abandonment during a conflict in the country's west, the United Nations says. The conflict has killed thousands of people over the past several years.联合国表示，西部冲突期间，由于破坏或遗弃，超过210个卫生中心关闭。该冲突在过去几年中导致了数千人死亡。Tumenta Kennedy is a Cameroon-based migration expert. He says Canada has become an attractive place because Canadian agencies target local doctors and nurses. Family ties overseas also play a part.图门塔·肯尼迪是一位驻喀麦隆的移民专家。他说，加拿大成为一个有吸引力的地方，因为加拿大的机构针对当地的医生和护士。海外的家庭联系也起到了一定作用。Canadian government immigration programs like the Federal Skilled Worker Program or Express Entry are gaining in popularity. Cameroonians are among the top nationalities applying for Express Entry, the program's latest report found.加拿大政府的移民项目，如联邦技术工人计划或快速通道，越来越受欢迎。该项目的最新报告发现，喀麦隆人是申请快速通道的主要国籍之一。