Cameroon or Canada? Poorly paid doctors and nurses are choosing to leave. That’s common in Africa

By MARK BANCHEREAU
Associated Press

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Cameroon has one of the world’s lowest number of health workers per capita. About a third of trained doctors who graduated from medical school last year left the West African country. Many doctors and nurses are leaving for more lucrative jobs in Europe and North America. Canada has become a big draw. One nurse who recently moved there asks how he could have supported his family on a nursing salary of less than $100 a month in Cameroon. Almost 75% of African countries are experiencing medical staff shortages, according to the World Health Organization.