Emerging Themes in Epidemiology
Volume 3, 2006

Migration and health: Fact, fiction, art, politics (Review) (Open Access)

Tam C.C.*
  • a Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom, Environmental and Enteric Diseases Department, Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, London, United Kingdom

Abstract

The recent Immigration Bill debate in the United States Congress has again re-ignited the polemic regarding immigration policy. In this essay, I argue that disputes surrounding the legality of migrant workers highlight chronic, underlying problems related to factors that drive migration. The public health field, although concerned primarily with addressing the health needs of migrant populations, cannot remain disengaged from the wider debates about migration. The health needs of migrants, although in themselves important, are merely symptoms of deeper structural process that are intrinsically linked to equity and human rights, and simply focusing on health issues will be insufficient to address these societal pathologies. © 2006 Tam; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

medical literature politics policy Review art health care United States migration

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-33749989057&doi=10.1186%2f1742-7622-3-15&partnerID=40&md5=de5c85ca24ebac21391ef70ee5d302a1

DOI: 10.1186/1742-7622-3-15
ISSN: 17427622
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English