Migration health and communicable disease Flashcards
What is the relationship between migration and health?
- Migrants are not less healthy than the host population
- Health can influence where you migrate
- There are biases on young men and women who migrate to an LMIC and they are known to be the fittest and healthiest in the host country. People think that people who migrate are fitter, younger and healthier than those that stay behind
Systematic review and meta-analysis of global patterns of mortality in international migrants (316 studies)
Overall mortality advantage ‘healthy migrant effect’
But increased mortality for infectious diseases
More vulnerable to infectious diseases than host populations like HIV and TB
Give an example of a disease that affects migrants more than the host population
HIV:
- 19.2% of new HIV diagnoses in EUROPE in 2017 were migrants
- 10.5% of Europe’s population was foreign-born in 2017
- More HIV diagnoses in migrants occurred in western Europe,
Hep B
- Over half of Hepatitis B cases in Europe are imported (Either in migrants who have been infected previously, then they go to a host country. Estimate from 2011 data across 18 EU/EAA countries (Source: ECDC).
- Migrants are more likely to have a greater incidence of Hep B compared to the Danish born (Danish controls)
- Increased over time
HPV
- In southern Italy, the prevalence of HPV infection in foreign women is 51% vs 13-20% among Italian-born women (Tornesello et al, 2014)
Who is a migrant?
‘ An umbrella tern, not defined under international law, reflecting the common lay understanding of a person who moves away from his or her place of usual residence, whether within a country or across an international border, temporarily or permanently, and for a variety of reasons’ (IOM,2019)
You can think of internal migration (like china)
Who is an ethnic minority?
BAME
What are global migration trends?
‘ Migration is a defining issue of our generation. How the world addresses human mobility will determine public health and social cohesion for decades ahead
- 1 billion on the move globally
- Highest level of forced displacement on record: 68.5 million
- Unprecedented increase in global migration
Global migration trends
- 281 million international migrants in 2020, representing 3.6% of the worlds total population
- 89.4 million displaced persons globally in 2020
- 169 million migrant workers globally in 2020
- Children represented 14.6% of international migrants in 2020
- Women represented 48.0% of international migrants in 2020
What are the types of migrants?
- Forced migrants Refugees and asylum seekers
- Economic/labour migrant
- Family-reunification migrant
- International students
- Retirement migrants
- Irregular/undocumented migrant
- Vast majority of migrants are migrant workers
What is the term ‘intersectionality’?
- Individuals are not defined by their identity as a migrant, but also by a myriad of other identities that influence their experiences
What are the recommendations to improve migrant health?
- Improved leadership and accountability at all levels: nation states, multilateral agencies, NGOs, and civil society
- Zero tolerance approach to racism and xenophobia
- Universal and equitable access to health services for migrants
- Better data on health of migrants to develop evidence based recommendations
- It is very difficult to collect data from migrant groups
How is migration related to health?
- Led to an increase in xenophobia
- Migration is a determinant of health
- Migrants are a positive to the host population
- Universal health coverage is needed
What is the ‘New york’ declaration for refugees and migrants?
‘ The new York declaration marks a political commitment of unprecedented force and resonance. It gills what has been a perennial gap on the international protection system-that of truly sharing responsibility for refugees’ UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi
- Contains a wide range of commitments by member states to strengthen and enhance mechanisms to protect people on the move
- Subsequent adoption of two global compacts in 2018
- Global compact on refugees
- Global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration
What is the global compact for refugees?
- Four key objectives
- To ease the pressure on host countries
- To enhance refugee self-reliance
- To expand access to third-country solutions
- To support conditions in countries of origin for return in safety and dignity
What is the Global compact for Safe, Orderly and regular migration?
- To support international cooperation on the governance of international migration
- To provide a comprehensive menu of options for states from which they can select policy options to address some of the most pressing issues around international migration
- So that they move legally and safely
- To give states the space and flexibility to pursue implementation based on their own migration realities and capacities
What are the risks to health before migration?
- Local disease patterns e.g. endemic diseases
- Political and personal circumstances e.g. conflict
- Human rights violations -mental heath
- Weak health systems e.g. undervaccination
What are the risks to health during migration ?
- Depends on mode and circumstances of travels
- E.G. Mexican migrants dying from health exposure in the desert crossing into the US
- E.g. migrants drowning attempting to reach Europe in flimsy boats
- E.g. spread of TB in overcrowded detention centres
- E.g. Burmese refugees fleeing through malaria-endemic areas
What are the risks to health after migration?
- Do migrants show the disease patterns of their country of origin or of their host country?
- Depends on the time since migration, level of cultural integration, and disease
- What diseases have they been exposed to since migration
- Poverty/living conditions
- Mental health-loneliness/isolation
- Exclusion from health systems of host countries
- Language
- Not understanding the health system