Malawi is often highlighted in publications as an example for Care Drain, the negative consequences of the
emigration of care workers, particularly nurses, for source countries with desolate health care systems. This
working paper gives insight into a qualitative study on migration intentions among highly qualified young nurses in
Malawi, conducted in 2010 following a Grounded Theory approach and applying in particular biographic in-depth
interviews and focus group discussions as research tools.
The paper aims to add to the understanding of migration intentions among young highly qualified Malawian
nurses from a biographic perspective, emphasizing aspects of Care Drain/Gain which have hardly been taken into
account in Malawian (development) policies so far. Specifically it discusses the intertwined linkages between
nursing students’ migration intentions and their professional ambitions as well as difficulties to realise their career
plan, pointing in particular to gender-related and historical aspects of these linkages. The following subchapters
highlight the manifold biographic meanings and functions of migration in the fields of family, relationship
respectively single life, self-actualisation and social status ambitions, considering respective gender differences.
The different fields are discussed subsequently with reference to socially or religiously grounded collective ideas
about the relationship between migration and social as well as personal ‘development’. The final part of the paper
reflects on the implications of the findings for (development) policies tackling the migration of nurses. It points to
potentials and challenges regarding career planning, successful migration biographies and political migration
management.