Publications Search

‘We have similar sad stories’: A life history analysis of left-behind children in Cambodian residential care

Globally, labor migration of parents has resulted in a growing number of children and adolescents being left behind in the areas from where migrants depart. In many countries a single parent or grandparents often act as children’s primary caregivers when parents migrate, while residential care has been found to an emergent caregiving arrangement for left-behind children in Cambodia. This phenomenon raises the questions: 1) how parental migration and other contextual factors contribute to…

Integration of migrant and refugee data in health information systems in Europe: advancing evidence, policy and practice

Coverage of migrant and refugee data is incomplete and of insufficient quality in European health information systems. This is not because we lack the knowledge or technology. Rather, it is due to various political factors at local, national and European levels, which hinder the implementation of existing knowledge and guidelines. This reflects the low political priority given to the topic, and also complex governance challenges associated with migration and displacement. We review recent…

COVID-19 among migrants, refugees, and internally displaced persons: systematic review, meta-analysis and qualitative synthesis of the global empirical literature

Background: Pandemic response and preparedness plans aim at mitigating the spread of infectious diseases and protecting public health, but migrants are often side-lined. Evidence amounted early that migrants are disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. However, synthesised evidence is lacking that quantifies the inequalities in infection risk and disease outcomes, or contextualises the consequences of pandemic measures and their underlying…

Defining indicators for disease burden, clinical outcomes, policies, and barriers to health services for migrant populations in the Middle East and North African region: a suite of systematic reviews

Introduction: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is characterised by high and complex migration flows, yet little is known about the health of migrant populations, their levels of under-immunisation, and access to healthcare provision. Data are needed to support regional elimination and control targets for key diseases and the design and delivery of programmes to improve health outcomes in these groups. This protocol describes a suite of seven systematic reviews that aim to…

Migrant workers and zoonotic health inequalities in the livestock production sector

This working paper highlights the urgent need to address the risk of zoonoses—diseases transmissible between animals and humans—to migrant workers in the livestock product value chain, arguing for the inclusion of migrants into evidence-building and actions for multilevel and interdisciplinary zoonotic disease prevention and control.

Health problems of Nepalese labor migrants: A scoping review

Labor migrants (LMs) often work in precarious work environments and are exposed to various health risks. There is a lack of information on the health of international Nepalese LMs (NLMs). This scoping study was conducted to assess the health problems of international NLMs based on the six-stage scoping review process of Arksey and O'Malley. A literature review and stakeholders consultation related to NLMs' health information were conducted. A total of 455 studies were identified of which 38…

Examining post-conflict stressors in northern Sri Lanka: A qualitative study

Forcibly displaced individuals typically encounter daily stressors, which can negatively impact mental health above and beyond direct exposure to war-related violence, trauma, and loss. Understanding the perspectives of war-affected communities regarding daily stressors can enhance the integration of mental health into local primary care. The aim of the current study was to explore how daily stressors are conceptualized in a post-conflict setting. Data collection was completed with 53 adult…

Displacement-related stressors in a Sri Lankan war-affected community: Identifying the impact of war exposure and ongoing stressors on trauma symptom severity

Abstract
In recent years, there has been a shift in the literature towards identifying how ongoing stress adversely affects mental health beyond the effect of direct exposure to war-related violence. The goal of the current study was to investigate the relationship between displacement-related stressors and trauma symptom severity. Participants (N = 1015) were recruited from primary healthcare clinics (PHCs) in Northern Sri Lanka and completed a demographic and displacement…

Immunisation status of UK-bound refugees between January, 2018, and October, 2019: a retrospective, population-based cross-sectional study

Summary

Background
WHO’s new Immunization Agenda 2030 places a focus on ensuring migrants and other marginalised groups are offered catch-up vaccinations across the life-course. Yet, it is not known to what extent specific groups, such as refugees, are immunised according to host country schedules, and the implications for policy and practice. We aimed to assess the immunisation coverage of UK-bound refugees undergoing International Organization for…

Health and illness in migrants and refugees arriving in Europe: analysis of the electronic Personal Health Record system

Abstract

Background
The electronic Personal Health Record (ePHR) is a health information system that registers health data on newly arriving migrants and was implemented in eight European countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia). This is a cross-sectional study aimed to describe the health problems and health status of all migrants attended at health clinics as part of the health assessment…