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Migrant Health Issues

Migrants struggle with similar challenges as other underserved populations regarding access to health care, but face the additional barriers of mobility, language, and cultural differences, lack of familiarity with local health care services, and limited eligibility to publicly and privately funded health care programs. While the uninsured rate for underserved Americans has dropped since the adoption of the Affordable Care Act, anecdotal evidence indicates that many migrant workers like farmworkers are unable to afford co-pays and deductibles.

Migrants are on the move -- but their health care might not follow. Their migratory lifestyles bring them out of their provider networks,…

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Featured

 Beyond Borders: How Migration and Public Health Are Inextricably Linked

It is vital to remember that migration is a public health issue. The challenges that migrants face during their journey and upon arrival have significant impacts on both individuals and the wider population at the border.

Articles of Interest

How the changing demography is rendering medical education obsolete

In today’s globalized world, not only do diseases know no borders but also, migration has become ubiquitous. People are moving in greater numbers, traveling greater distances at an unprecedented pace, thus producing a new paradigm of multiculturalism and diversity within countries. Migrants, regardless of the political, economical or environmental drivers of their movement, carry with them what we call at ICMHD their “health print”.

The growing lunacy of free health insurance for migrants

Many European and Scandinavian countries are adjusting their policies to protect their own residents from undue burdens. America is simply surrendering. Offering health insurance also invites an influx of sick people from countries that cannot provide care.

A Public Health Crisis at the Border

Detained children must be screened more rigorously for communicable disease.

Barriers to health care for undocumented immigrants: a literature review

There are numerous and wide-ranging barriers to receipt of health care for undocumented immigrants. These barriers are not only legal in nature but also encompass challenges inherent in “undocumented” or illegal status. They include policy limitations, the fear of disclosure, and the lack of both social and financial assets.

Borders, Immigrants & Health

A public health crisis is unfolding along and inside the US-Mexico border. Immigrants arriving at the US border are likely to have experienced political, economic, or interpersonal violence prior to their arrival, leading to unmet mental health and physical health needs. Immigrants detained at the border may face crime and violence in border towns as they await trial in the US, or prolonged stays in detention centers and family separations if they are able to cross the border. Immigrants in the US face health challenges that extend well beyond the border.

California first to cover health care for all immigrants

Nationwide, federal and state governments join together to give free health care to low-income adults and children through Medicaid. But the federal government won’t pay for people who are living in the country illegally.

Cardiovascular health and disease in migrant populations: a call to action

Large differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality exist between migrant populations and host populations. Understanding the drivers behind these disparities may help to mitigate the unequal burden of CVD and identify new causal pathways that contribute to CVD risk in the population at large.

Displacement and health: 'The anti-immigrant rhetoric needs to stop'

Fleeing threats in your home country, surviving a journey that few can imagine, then, finally, if you are lucky, reaching a country you hope will welcome you. This is the reality for many refugees. But what then?

For undocumented immigrants, our enforcement policies drive a public mental health crisis

Imagine running away from a lion all your life — that's how 11 million undocumented immigrants feel today, and it takes a toll on their mental health.

Genetic Testing to Reunite Immigrant Families Raises Issues of Privacy and Consent

Tests offered by companies like 23andMe may be overly broad, and could take too long to return children to their parents.

Healthcare for migrants is a challenge. Plugging the knowledge-gap helps

Understanding health trends among people who migrate is difficult. In most cases migrants fall outside health systems planning and may struggle to access health care facilities. As a result health authorities find it hard to accommodate migrants when they become ill. Health systems become overburdened and cannot provide the necessary services, while the spread of disease intensifies.

Healthcare policies have consequences. She has spent seven years understanding them

“People talk about immigration as though it’s a very black and white issue, but when you add healthcare into the mix and really start to talk to people, talk to the immigrant population, talk to health care providers, talk to lawmakers, people from various types of organizations, it reveals a much greater picture and a much more complicated and more nuanced picture, one with lots of moving parts and people can easily fall through the cracks,” she says.

How American Citizens Finance $18.5 Billion In Health Care For Unauthorized Immigrants

In this post, I describe in more detail current policy, current sources of funding for health care of unauthorized immigrants.

How Fear of Deportation Affects the Body

It's not enough that it wreaks havoc on a person's mental health.

How stigmas impact refugee and migrant health

People who migrate or flee their homes experience major health barriers, a new WHO report shows. These barriers can be exacerbated by stigmas — some of which are imposed by health care providers, and some by society.

Meet the Woman Providing Health Care to Migrant Children Near the US-Mexico Border

Garcia, who is a single mom and small business owner, founded the nonprofit One Hundred Angels in 2018, just months before she noticed the influx of asylum seekers in Phoenix. “The circumstances we find them in are alarming. They are so weak — physically and emotionally,” Garcia explained. The One Hundred Angels volunteer medical team now works out of 28 churches and shelters in Phoenix that welcome asylum seekers and has supported 18,000 people to date. They triage, assess migrants for emergencies, and provide comfort packages containing vitamins, electrolytes, and over-the-counter drugs.

Migrant health is global health

The number of migrants worldwide is at a record high level. An investment in migrant health is an investment in the future: migrants should be seen as a resource rather than a burden.

Migrants’ latest health challenge: Scabies

Scabies, long considered a disease of the past in the developed world, is making its way back. This highly contagious parasitic skin disease, which is caused by the burrowing itch mite Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis, is most commonly transmitted through personal contact in close living quarters and institutional settings, such as schools, aged care facilities, hospitals and refugee camps. Modern treatments for scabies include topical permethrin, topical benzyl benzoate and oral ivermectin for children older than 5.

Millions of Refugees, Migrants Suffer Ill Health for Lack of Care

A new study shines a light on the health risks, challenges, and barriers faced daily by millions of refugees and migrants who suffer from poor health because they lack access to the health care available to others in their host countries.

Refugees and mental health: 'These people are stronger than us'

After months of fear and uncertainty, even refugees who have reached safety face a psychological battle to get back on their feet.

Sick and Afraid, Some Immigrants Forgo Medical Care

Across the country, from Venice, Calif., to Brooklyn, clinics that serve an immigrant population report a downturn in appointments since the administration’s crackdown. In a recent national poll of providers by Migrant Clinicians Network, which is based in Austin, Tex., two-thirds of respondents said they had seen a reluctance among patients to seek health care.

The mental-health crisis among migrants

The refugees and migrants surging into Europe are suffering very high levels of psychiatric disorders. Researchers are struggling to help.

The Migrant Crisis and Access to Health Care

The long-term solution lies far beyond the efforts of local FQHCs, hospitals and migrant health centers. Powerful and financially strong nations must put pressure on foreign governments to honor their responsibility to protect every single person’s rights. They must make sure that refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants are safe, and are not tortured, discriminated against or left living in poverty.

The real border crisis: medical neglect of migrants in detention centers

As a physician who has evaluated adults held in immigration jails, I have witnessed conditions in detention facilities that are unsafe for adults and deadly for children. Advocates have called attention to overcrowding, insufficient food and water, and abusive conditions at border processing facilities. Across the country, immigration jails are plagued by human and civil rights abuses and dangerously subpar access to medical care.

The Toxic Health Effects of Deportation Threat

The fear of immigration raids can harm children’s brains and health, potentially for life.

U.K. to Relax Immigration Rules to Aid Struggling National Health Service

Home Office to exempt medical staff from annual cap on visas for skilled workers from outside the EU.

Undocumented immigrants on dialysis forced to cheat death every week

Every week, 18-year-old Alex watches his mother steadily decline, not able to do anything about it until she arrives at the precipice of death -- at which point, he will rush her to the hospital.

We’re providing medical care to a new type of migrant — the climate migrant

We must reformulate our health systems to accommodate climate migrants, whether they are arriving at the border because their crops failed or they have developed acute health issues arising from disaster. With no connections and few resources to help them connect to care, they must be able to find health services while in a new town.

Resources

Migrant Clinicians Network

Migrant Clinicians Network is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that creates practical solutions at the intersection of poverty, migration, and health.

CARE

The project “CARE – Common Approach for REfugees and other migrants’ health”, which has received funding from the European Union’s Health Programme (2014-2020), aimed to promote a better understanding of refugees and migrants’ health condition as well as to support the adaptation of the appropriate clinical attitude towards refugees and migrants’ health needs and in particular towards the health needs of fragile subgroups, such as minors, pregnant women and victims of violence.

CDC

As a world leader in health promotion and disease prevention, CDC works with immigrant, refugee, and migrant groups to improve their health...

Centre for Migrant and Refugee Health

The Centre for Migrant and Refugee Health (CMRH) is a not-for-profit organisation established in 2019 with a public health focus to improve mental health and well-being for Australian migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community backgrounds.

International Centre for Migration, Health and Development

The International Centre for Migration, Health and Development is a Swiss-based non-profit institution that was established in 1995. Its mandate is to work on research, training and policy advocacy in all areas related to migration and health.

MigrantWorkerhealth.ca

Protect the hands that feed us.

Refugee Health Alliance

To provide ethical, holistic, and culturally-inclusive care and advocate for all displaced and vulnerable populations along the US-Mexico border in collaboration with activists and existing healthcare organizations.

WHO

Refugees and migrants need to be in good health to protect both themselves and host populations. They have the human right to health, and countries have an obligation to provide refugee and migrant sensitive health care services.