Abstract
The international migration of skilled medical professionals has been documented as
a ‘manpower’ issue for health service planning since the 1960s. This paper charts the
way that the international travel of medical professionals, primarily physicians and
nurses, has been understood and how its construction as a problematic or a positive
feature of global migration has varied. Sketching out this literature is a prelude to
further analysis that will interrogate the terms of the documentation, its translation
into and consequences for public discourse concerning global equality and ethics.
