Introduction: Mobility of health workers and the mohprof Project

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the world was lacking at least 4.2 million health workers in 2006. This is reflected by prognoses for the United States as well as for the European Union (EU): both expect a shortage of a million health workers by 20201. In the EU, in addition to shortages, health workers are not spread evenly across the region, and spending on health may vary widely. This implies major imbalances, resulting in an environment highly conducive to migration of health workers. Thus, the EU plays a role in the global process of migration of health workers. The enlargement process increased this tendency. Ten countries joined the EU in 2004 (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia (EU10). Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007 (EU2). These 12 countries together are referred to in this report as the EU12.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions