International Migration of Nurses and Care Workers: Perspectives of Indonesia and Japan

Panel Convenor(s)

• YT

  Yuko Tsujita

  IDE-JETRO, Japan

Panel Chair(s)

• HO

  Hisaya Oda

  Ritsumeikan University, Japan

Panel Discussant(s)

• HO

  Hisaya Oda

  Ritsumeikan University, Japan

Presenter(s)

• YT

  Yuko Tsujita

  IDE-JETRO, Japan
• AA

  Aswatini Anaf

  National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia

Co-Presenter(s)

• MN

  Mita Noveria

  National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia

Presenter(s)

• FE

  Ferry Efendi

  Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia

Co-Presenter(s)

• RP

  Rifky Pradipta

  Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia

An increasingly ageing population in many developed countries has contributed to a greater demand for nurses and care workers. As these countries cannot meet this growing demand domestically, they seek to recruit nurses and care workers from abroad. According to the latest statistics from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 15.8% of nurses and 28.5% of home-based care workers in OECD countries were born abroad.

Asia is a major source region for migrant nurses and care workers; at the same time, certain countries within the region also have a demand for them. The number of nurses per population in the Asian countries from where they migrate is often much lower than that in the destination countries. The worldwide shortage and imbalance of nurses and care workers have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the shortage of nurses and care workers in the destination countries is often structural, many countries try to retain migrant nurses and care workers for a longer duration by adjusting the regulatory framework of immigration and health and labour/employment policies every so often. The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel promotes ethical international recruitment of health personnel. This Code aims to strengthen health systems and safeguard the rights of health personnel while recruiting them, particularly from developing countries. With the growing demand for healthcare workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, difficulties arise in recruiting healthcare personnel to achieve universal healthcare coverage; one of the targets set under the Sustainable Development Goals.

This international recruitment of nurses and care workers is often associated with ‘brain drain’, wherein developing countries lose trained healthcare personnel to developed countries, and ‘brain waste,’ wherein trained nurses in source countries are employed as care workers for the elderly in destination countries. The challenge is to convert this to a “mutually beneficial outcome opportunity for all”. Another problem arises when the updated skills and language proficiency of nurses and care workers returning to their country of origin become underutilized.

This panel aims to explore how mutually beneficial situation can be achieved in the post-COVID 19 pandemic era. In doing so, it is important to understand the dynamically changing situations and challenges in terms of training and employment of nurses and care workers in Indonesia (the source country) and Japan (the destination country).

Presentations:

• 11:15 – 13:00 (GMT+7)

  Diversifying Entry Routes into the Long-term Care Sector in Japan:A Study of Indonesian Migrant Care Workers
  

  Presenter: Yuko Tsujita – IDE-JETRO
• 11:15 – 13:00 (GMT+7)

  Indonesian Nurse Migration and Global Demand for Care Worker
  

  Presenter: Aswatini Anaf – National Research and Innovation Agency

  Co-Presenter: Mita Noveria – National Research and Innovation Agency
• 11:15 – 13:00 (GMT+7)

  Nurse Migration from Indonesia: Past, Present, and Future
  

  Presenter: Ferry Efendi – Universitas Airlangga

  Co-Presenter: Rifky Pradipta – Universitas Airlangga