Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness
Volume 12, Issue 5, 2018, Pages 554-562

The Potential Impact of Border Security Upon Prevalence of Infectious Disease (Review)

Dallas C.R.* , Harris C.H. , Dallas C.E.
  • a College of Public Health, Institute for Disaster Management, University of Georgia, 452 Mason Mill Rd., Athens, GA 30633, United States
  • b College of Public Health, Institute for Disaster Management, University of Georgia, 452 Mason Mill Rd., Athens, GA 30633, United States
  • c College of Public Health, Institute for Disaster Management, University of Georgia, 452 Mason Mill Rd., Athens, GA 30633, United States

Abstract

In the U.S., migration has been documented to affect the prevalence of infectious disease. As a mitigation entity, border security has been recorded by numerous scholarly works as being essential to the support of the health of the U.S. population. Consequently, the lack of current health care monitoring of the permeable U.S. border places the U.S. population at risk in the broad sectors of infectious disease and interpersonal violence. Visualizing border security in the context of public health mitigation has significant potential to protect migrant health as well as that of all populations on both sides of the border. Examples of how commonly this philosophy is held can be found in the expansive use of security-focused terms regarding public health. Using tools such as GIS to screen for disease in people before their entrance into a nation would be more efficient and ethical than treating patients once they have entered a population and increased the impact on the healthcare system. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:554-562) © Copyright Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2018.

Author Keywords

Infectious Disease Medicine Border control Public health Disaster medicine

Index Keywords

Emigration and Immigration prevalence Disease Outbreaks epidemic organization and management Security Measures human Humans trends migration United States

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85044082513&doi=10.1017%2fdmp.2017.118&partnerID=40&md5=fe34d4404bbc73f94a7947903a47bdc0

DOI: 10.1017/dmp.2017.118
ISSN: 19357893
Original Language: English