Main Article Content

Foreign advertisements for doctors in the SAMJ 2006 - 2010


YM Dambisya
MH Mamabolo

Abstract

Background. There is much concern about the migration of health
professionals from developing countries, and the contribution of
active recruitment to the phenomenon. One active recruitment
strategy is advertisements in professional journals and other media.
Objective. To establish the trends in foreign advertisements for
doctors placed in the South African Medical Journal (SAMJ) from
January 2006 to December 2010.
Methods. A retrospective review was conducted of 60 issues of
the SAMJ published in the preview years. Printed journals were
scanned for foreign advertisements. The findings were compared
with a review of 2000 - 2004 in the same journal.
Results. There were 1 176 foreign advertisements placed in the
SAMJ in the review period, reducing from 355 in 2006 to 121
in 2010. The countries placing the most advertisements were
Australia (n=428, 36.4%), Canada (n=286, 24.3%), New Zealand
(n=191, 16.2%) and the UK (n=108, 9.2%). Compared with the
earlier findings, there was a reduction in advertisements for the top
countries, excepting Australia. The top 4 countries remained the
same for the 2 review periods, but the order changed, with Australia
superseding the UK.
Conclusion. The number of foreign advertisements placed in
the SAMJ declined over the period under review, and there was a
change in ranking of the top 4 advertising countries. These findings
are discussed from the perspective of global human resources for
health initiatives.

Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 2078-5135
print ISSN: 0256-9574