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In February, Namibia&s New Age newspaper wrote about Health Minister Richard Kamwi&s excitement at the arrival of a small group of medical students to begin internship posts. The health ministry says this year&s intake of 15 Namibian internists, enrolled alongside South Africans and Zimbabweans, is the largest cohort yet to return from studying abroad, and has bolstered the country&s drive to repopulate its health system with its own doctors. "My dream is for the Namibian medical professionals to own the public health sector," Kamwi said, welcoming the trainees.
Kamwi&s vision contrasts sharply with the current employment picture. Namibia&s health ministry says less than a third of doctors working in the public sector are Namibian nationals; the rest are mainly from other countries in Africa and from Cuba. In this, Namibia is in a similar position to many rich countries. A 2005 study found that foreign educated health professionals make up more than a quarter of the medical and nursing workforces of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States (Cahiers de Sociologie et de Démographie Médicales 2005;45:287-306). But whereas those countries have plenty of facilities to train up their own doctors, Namibia has no medical school of its own. About one fifth of adults have HIV/AIDS, about 65 in 1000 children die before they reach the age of 5, and the average life expectancy is around 51 years, according to the World Health Organization&s latest World Health Report ( www.who.int/whr/2005/annex/annexe1_en.pdf ). Under 5 mortality is eight in 1000 in the US, and life expectancy is 77 years. Namibia&s mining-dependent economy generates less than a4.1bn (£2.8bn; $5bn) a year, (about one fifth of the size of Luxembourg&s) according to...