"Whilst individual rights to freedom including the freedom of movement are acknowledged, developed countries should be restricted by ethics in the recruitment of health workers from countries with severe human resource challenges."

Tshabalala-Msimang was speaking as chairwoman of the African Union Ministers of Health during the official opening of the first Global Forum on Human Resources for Health in Kampala, Uganda.

The Forum was convened by the Global Health Workforce Alliance under the auspices of the World Health Organisation and was attended by about a thousand participants, including government leaders, health,
development, civil society, academic and health professional leaders from around the world.

She said it was disturbing that while Africa continued to strengthen education and training of its prospective health professionals, the recruitment of these "prized assets" to developed and better resourced countries went unabated.

"This global forum should come out with a commitment from the developed countries to development of their own human resource plans that do not undermine the health systems of other countries," said Tshabalala-Msimang.

She called for solidarity and co-operation amongst developing countries in addressing the human resource challenges affecting them."We pledged as South Africa not to recruit from other African countries that have human resource challenges. This is a principled decision that was taken in order to avoid worsening each others situation," she said.

South Africa recruits through government to government agreements and currently has doctors from Cuba, Iran and Tunisia that work in the country.