Dr Emmanuel Essien, University of Calabar, is researching the role of 'brain drain' in the attitudes of psychiatrists in Nigeria. He will be working with Dr Mariana Pinto da Costa from King's College London to help support this research.
‘Brain drain’ is a term used to describe the phenomenon of skilled professionals leaving their home countries, usually to work in more developed nations and utilise advantageous opportunities and career prospects. In Nigeria, this phenomenon has resulted in only 200 psychiatrists currently looking after a population of over 200 million people, leaving mental healthcare in Nigeria vastly understaffed.
Dr Emmanuel Essien, Senior Adjunct Lecturer, University of Calabar, Nigeria, will be using our Meade Collaboration Travel Grant in Epidemiology to conduct a cross-sectional survey at King’s College London to further understand health worker migration and address this issue. The survey will be online, and will investigate attitudes of psychiatrists in Nigeria, early on in their careers, towards migration, and why they may want to leave or remain in the country.
Dr Essien will be using multivariate statistical methods, such as structural equation modelling (SEM) and multilevel modelling (MLM), to analyse data collected from this study.
Dr Essien will be working alongside Dr Mariana Pinto da Costa, King’s College London, to help support his statistical analysis and epidemiology skills, skills he will subsequently share with his residents and medical students at the University of Calabar.