Migration, Displacement and Health

This project initiative examines health as a specific developmental impact of migration, and is investigating health – particularly healthcare seeking - as a determinant of migration. Considered from a broad public health perspective, health includes psychosocial, cultural and biomedical dimensions. These multiple domains are examined through the processes of social and personal displacement which result from both internal and cross-border migration. The project makes use of the social determinants of health as a framework to investigate and understand the causes of ill health.

This initiative understands health as a dimension of human rights, and therefore pays attention to social suffering and the effects of various forms of violence and inequality on migrants’ health. Within this perspective, the effect of armed conflicts and political violence on the health of refugees and asylum seekers is a particular area of interest. The effects of discrimination, xenophobia and marginalisation on migrants’ health are examined.

Migration is considered as an increasingly important dimension of urban public health with wide-ranging impacts across the urban social determinants of health, including access to adequate housing and basic services. Research therefore attends to health systems and policy, models of healthcare and institutional responses to migrants’ healthcare needs. Drawing from perspectives on development, human rights and public health, this initiative at present, addresses the following themes, described in detail on the following pages:

• Health systems research;
• The relationship between migration, HIV and urban livelihoods;
• Trauma care for migrants: critical reflections on the South African experience;
• ‘Dying in a foreign country’: the interface between rights, healthcare, and culture in the proximity or in the event of a migrant’s death.