Alliance Best Practices Shared at the WHO on the Code and Recruiter Engagement

On October 30, Mukul Bakhshi, Director of the Alliance for Ethical International Recruitment Practices, a division of CGFNS International, Inc., presented at the WHO Code’s Expert Advisory Group meetings on the WHO Code, the Alliance’s Health Care Code, and engaging the recruitment sector in the quest for more fair and ethical cross-border recruitment practices. The presentation received wide acclaim from representatives of Ministries of Health and large international organizations for its innovative approach to aligning the incentives of governments, recruiters, and the health professionals to make agreed principles around recruitment practices part of the reality on the ground.

The WHO Code of Global Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel was adopted in 2010, with a focus on reducing recruitment for countries facing health worker shortages and encouraging ethical recruitment. It is a voluntary set of principles similar in kind to (and partially modeled on) the Alliance Codes, but broader in its application because it primarily targets WHO member states rather than recruiters and employers. The Expert Advisory Group meets after each three-year reporting cycle to evaluate progress and consider additional opportunities to strengthen the WHO Code.