Health informatics and brain drain mitigation in Ghana

Abstract

Migration of health workers has been a major issue of concern for most developing countries including Ghana. Extant literature has revealed that several attempts have been made from various disciplines to counter this menace in some developing countries. In this paper, the field of Information Systems (IS) tries to uncover how technology can also be used to mitigate brain drain in the health sector of developing countries, using Ghana as a case. This study adopts the theory of affordance, Maslow’s theory of motivation, and Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory to support the development of a conceptual framework. An exploratory research approach using a qualitative research method was adopted. Theoretically, this paper contributes to the IS literature on migration. Practically, the paper presents a basis for more technological adoption within the health sector of Ghana and other developing countries that experience medical brain drain as a challenge.