International Migration and Health

March 25, 2014

About 1 billion of the world population are migrants, among which 214 million people are living outside of their countries of origin and 740 million people migrate within their own countries. Migrants leave their homes for a broad range of reasons: some leave for better opportunities in education and work, while some are forced to leave because of natural disasters, wars, civil conflicts, poverty, political persecution, among others. Their physical, mental, and social wellbeing have significant implications to public health.

To find out more, Lorraine spoke with Dr. Melissa Siegel and PHD candidate Ms Teressa Juzwiak of United Nations University - Merit. They spoke about the link between migration and health, some previous and upcoming work with the Demographic and Health Survey, as well as the positive and negative impacts of migration on physical and mental health.

Migration could be associated with health risks and intervention opportunities. Thus, I spoke with Ms Jackie Barrett Greene, an employee of AIDS Niagara, representing her organization in the Niagara Migrant Workers Interest Group as the Health Coordinator. The organization focuses on migrant workers' interest in St Catharines Ontario. Along with her coworker Winnie, who is a migrant from Zimbabwe, they shed light on how AIDS Niagara help local migrant farmers to increase health care access and to overcome stigma in HIV/AIDS.

You can download the March 25 , 2014 episode or stream it in the player below: