Work

A region on the move needs a health workforce trained for it

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Few regions have seen human mobility change shape as quickly as the Americas. Of the roughly 7.9 million people who have left Venezuela, 6.9 million live elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2.8 million of them in Colombia.1 Detected crossings of the Darién jungle peaked at 520,085 in 2023, then fell to fewer than 3000 in the first seven months of 2025 as US policy changed; thousands began moving south again, and internal displacement in Haiti reached about 1.3 million.1 The health worker who meets these people, whether in a primary care clinic in Cúcuta, an emergency department in Santiago, a shelter in Tapachula, or a community health centre in Chicago, has rarely been trained for the encounter.

Source: The Lancet Regional Health - Americas

DOI: 10.1016/j.lana.2026.101695

Authors: Báltica Cabieses, Santino Severoni, Patrick Bodenmann