One of the Integral Life Foundation’s major concerns is the “brain drain,” which has been a byproduct of the growth in education for people in developing countries, especially in Africa. The risk we always face is the people we train are tempted to leave if opportunities are better elsewhere. It makes sustainability a challenge for a philanthropic model such as ours, where we focus on partnering with, training and enabling the local populace to help themselves.

An unforeseen benefit of the global economic downturn is that the African “brain drain” seems to be turning into mini “brain gain” as job opportunities have dried up in the world’s financial capitals and many professionals are returning to their homelands.

David Okoror, director-general of the African Diaspora Initiative, which works with the Nigerian government to encourage returns, estimates that 7,500 Nigerians have come back to work in the financial, telecoms and information technology industries in the past seven years. Some put the figure much higher. Ade Odutola, founder of WazobiaJobs.com, a recruitment portal for West Africa, estimates that 10,000 skilled Nigerians have returned in the past year.

The trend is mirrored elsewhere in Africa. Elite International Careers, a London-based recruitment agency, reports that five years ago the number of highly educated Angolans returning home numbered about 100. Today, the company has more than 1,000 listed.

The moves reflect a wider trend of increasing mobility in migrant communities worldwide. In common with Mexicans heading to the U.S., and North Africans relocating to Europe, returning Africans are keeping doors open in their home countries and the west, Okoror reported.

Whether these example represent a sustainable trend remains to be seen; on average 30,000 African professionals leave the continent each year, so the challenges are still very daunting. Nevertheless, Integral Life Foundation remains committed to our central precept that economic development will only be sustained through education and training of local people so they can work to improve their own communities.

Learning that people are making the decision to return home or stay home is encouraging, and makes the desire to invest in local businesses and individuals even stronger.

Much progress has been made in addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa and malaria throughout the tropical regions of the globe. Obviously, much more effort is needed, but it’s going to take a lot more than simply treating a disease, individual by individual throughout the developing world. While it is important that we measure the incidence of AIDS and malaria, a broader, more aggressive approach to global health is required:

Former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, a physician, said it well in a recent newspaper column:

“We need to expand our thinking to encompass holistic solutions that go into improving the health of the world’s poor. We need to think profoundly about our practices and the significance of sound policies to sound health. Global health must deliver more than a pill to the poor to relieve their immediate pain; it must deliver a system-wide program of rehabilitation to increase the productivity and prosperity of their communities.”

Frist notes that other, less obvious but treatable diseases also make deep depredations in developing societies – blindness, for example. A child goes blind every minute, up to 700,000 annually, and 70 percent die within the first year of going blind. And most of these cases can be fairly easily prevented.

Meeting such basic needs as passable roads for people to reach clinics and markets, and clean drinking water to avoid other diseases can go a long way to improve the quality of their lives. Just as in the U.S. clinical care is not the long-term key to improving a population’s overall health standard.

The Integral Life Foundation was created to promote this holistic approach to health in developing societies. Our goal is to provide local residents with the knowledge and access to the education they need so they can take control of their own lives.

And in partnership with Nueterra Capital Management and the C3 Missions International, Integral Life Foundation is committed to making a difference in developing nations through the C3/NCM Global Growth Fund.
By our definition, good health is the cornerstone of economic development. We support investment in countries that have already shown a commitment to taking steps to do their part in improving the health of its citizens. A systemic approach to global health, grounded in good policies, provides the best medicine for delivering tangible and sustainable results that will improve the quality of life for the world’s poor.