The World Health Organisation (WHO) designated 2006 as The Year for Health and the United Nations has designated this year as The Year of Migration. For the African continent, the combination of the two factors can have devastating consequences. WHO reports that 2.9 per cent of the world’s 175 million population live outside their country of birth. As health professionals on the African continent migrate to western countries out of economic necessity, the loss of medical expertise is increasingly leaving a depleted health sector incapable of meeting public healthcare needs.