Well-managed migrants' health benefits all.
Year: 2004
Type: article
Abstract: Human mobility is a fact of modern life. Liberalization of trade and capital, associated with the development of communication technologies and easier travel — compounded by political instability, economic mismanagement contributing to poverty, and high unemployment in many parts of the world — has changed the scope and the pattern of migration. Worldwide, one out every 35 persons is an international migrant (1). People move from one place to another in search of economic opportunity, to join family members, or because of war, human rights abuses and persecution. Migration appears to be a natural reaction to cope with adverse conditions. It will continue as long as economic imbalances and conflicts exist, and movement is an essential element in today’s global economy.Societies are becoming more ethni-cally diverse. While in the past the bulk of migration involved the permanent resettlement in traditional countries of immigration, today there is a wide variety of groups such as labour migrants, asylum seekers, migrants with irregular status including those without identity documents, internally displaced persons, and other vulnerable people such as unaccompanied children and traf-ficked persons.Contemporary migration is com-plex, challenging not only migration policy but also linking with other policy domains such as public health. As peo-ple move, they connect individual and environmental health factors between one country and another. The patterns of mobility define the conditions of the journey and their impact on health. For instance, the planned movement of a recruited health-care worker will be safer than the journey of a person being smuggled into a country. The legal status of migrants in receiving societies often determines access to health and social services. For example, a migrant who is granted permanent residence enjoys the same access to services as the citizens of the host society, but this is
Source: Europe PMC (PubMed Central)
Author: Danielle Grondin
Institution: International Organization for Migration
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1853441388