Table 4. Change in the number of Sub-Saharan African-trained international medical graduates (SSA-IMGs) appearing in the US physician workforce between 2002 and 2011.
| Countries of Training (Top 12) | 2002 Data | 2011 Data | Change | |||||||
| SSA-IMGs | Physicians in Source Countries | Emigration Fraction | SSA-IMGs | SSA-IMGs, age ≤70 | Physicians in Source Countries | Emigration Fraction | “Active” Emigration Fraction | SSA-IMGs (n) | SSA-IMGs (%) | |
| Cameroona | [14] | [1,095] | 1.3% | 63 | 63 | 1,346 | 4.5% | 4.5% | 49 | 350.0% |
| Sudana | [85] | [3,157] | 2.6% | 329 | 328 | 10,813 | 2.95% | 2.9% | 244 | 287.1% |
| Ethiopia | 257 | 1,564 | 14.1% | 531 | 530 | 2,152 | 19.8% | 19.8% | 274 | 106.6% |
| Kenya | 93 | 4,001 | 2.3% | 173 | 173 | 7,549 | 2.2% | 2.2% | 80 | 86.0% |
| Tanzaniaa | [14] | [1,384] | 1.0% | 24 | 24 | 300 | 7.4% | 7.4% | 10 | 71.4% |
| Nigeria | 2,158 | 22,894 | 8.6% | 3,271 | 3,252 | 55,376 | 5.6% | 5.5% | 1,113 | 51.6% |
| Ghana | 478 | 1,210 | 28.3% | 721 | 721 | 2,033 | 26.2% | 26.2% | 243 | 50.8% |
| Zimbabwe | 75 | 1,694 | 4.2% | 112 | 108 | 827 | 11.9% | 11.6% | 37 | 49.3% |
| Zambia | 67 | 676 | 9.0% | 81 | 81 | 836 | 8.8% | 8.8% | 14 | 20.9% |
| Liberia | 47 | 72 | 39.5% | 56 | 56 | 51 | 52.3% | 52.3% | 9 | 19.1% |
| Uganda | 133 | 722 | 15.6% | 145 | 139 | 3,361 | 4.1% | 4.0% | 12 | 9.0% |
| South Africa | 1,943 | 23,844 | 7.5% | 1,786 | 1,577 | 38,236 | 4.5% | 4.0% | −157 | −8.1% |
| Othera | 83 | 12,912 | 0.6% | 78 | 78 | 21,666 | 0.4% | 0.4% | n/a | n/a |
| Total | 5,334 | 69,589 | 7.1% | 7,370 | 7,130 | 144,546 | 4.9% | 4.7% | 2,036 | 38.2% |
Data sources: World Health Organization [5]; 2002 AMA Physician Masterfile as per Hagopian et al. [19]; American Medical Association [115].
2002 data were reported by Hagopian et al. [19] except for the numbers of IMGs trained in Cameroon, Tanzania, and Sudan. Their numbers are included in brackets because they are not part of the total counts reported in the last row of the table. These migrants were identified among SSA-IMGs in the 2011 AMA Physician Masterfile who completed residency by 2002. But the number of physicians available in Cameroon, Sudan, and Tanzania in 2002 came from the Hagopian et al. paper. In their dataset, “other” includes 12 countries with “at least one graduate in the US.” In our 2011 dataset, except otherwise specified, “other” refers to the 16 sub-Saharan African countries with fewer than 15 SSA-IMGs each in the 2011 AMA Physician Masterfile. The numbers of physicians in source countries for the year 2011 are from the Global Health Workforce Statistics of the World Health Organization [5]. “Active” emigration rate is the emigration rate among potentially active physicians. We defined all migrant physicians age ≤70 as potentially active.