International recruitment of health and social care personnel: code of practice - March 2023 (revised)

8. Annex A - WHO Red and Amber list of countries

8.1 Countries on the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguard List are graded red which means no active recruitment is permitted from these countries. If a government-to-government agreement is put in place between the UK and a partner country, it will restrict UK employers, contracting bodies recruitment organisations, agencies and collaborations to the terms of the agreement. The country will be added to the amber list and recruitment can happen only on the terms of the Agreement.

8.2 The WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards list is updated by the WHO every 3 years or more frequently if required.

8.3 Changes to the red and amber country list may be made on an ad hoc basis as government-to-government agreements are signed. All agreements will take WHO guidance on the development of bilateral agreements into account.

8.4 It is recommended that employers, recruitment organisations, agencies, collaborations and contracting bodies check the country list for updates before any recruitment drive.

8.5 Green graded countries, which have signed a government-to-government agreement with the UK for international health and social care workforce recruitment, are listed separately below.

Red countries - active recruitment is not permitted

• Afghanistan
• Angola
• Bangladesh
• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Comoros
• Congo
• Congo, Dem. Rep.
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Djibouti
• Equatorial Guinea
• Eritrea
• Ethiopia
• Gabon
• Gambia, The
• Ghana
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Haiti
• Kiribati
• Lao People's Democratic Republic
• Lesotho
• Liberia
• Madagascar
• Malawi
• Mali
• Mauritania
• Micronesia, Federated State of.
• Mozambique
• Niger
• Nigeria
• Pakistan
• Papua New Guinea
• Rwanda
• Samoa
• Senegal
• Sierra Leone
• Solomon Island
• Somalia
• South Sudan
• Sudan
• Tanzania, United Republic of
• Timor-Leste
• Togo
• Tuvalu
• Uganda
• Vanuatu
• Yemen, Republic of
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

Amber countries - international recruitment is only permitted in compliance with the terms of a government-to-government agreement.

• Kenya
• Nepal

Green countries - with government-to-government agreements in place with the UK.

8.5 Active recruitment is permitted from green graded countries. Green countries are any country not on the red or amber list.

8.6 The green country list below are those countries which have a government-to-government agreement with the UK in place for international health and care workforce recruitment. Green graded countries without a government-to-government agreement with the UK are not published in the code of practice.

8.7 The government-to-government agreement may set parameters, implemented by the country of origin, for how UK employers, contracting bodies, recruitment organisations, agencies and collaborations recruit. These organisations are encouraged to recruit on the terms of the government-to-government agreement.

8.8 The green country list will be updated as new government-to-government agreements are signed with the UK. It is recommended employers, contracting bodies, recruitment organisations, agencies and collaborations regularly check the list for updates and prior to embarking on any recruitment campaign.

8.9 Green graded countries with a government-to-government agreement for managing international health and care workforce recruitment are:

• India
• Philippines
• Malaysia
• Sri Lanka

8.10 All health workforce government-to-government agreements above are published on in the Government-to-government agreements on health and social care workforce recruitment collection.