The Migration Focus on Health booklet is a catalogue of all IOM reports discussing the link between migration and health. The booklet includes IOM publications focusing on the topic from 2002 to date.

This paper examines the relationship between migration and health from a human-rights and social equity based perspective. It discussed how migrationcan itself be seen as a determinant of migrants' health. Migrants are affected by social inequalities and are likely to go through several experiences during the migration process which puts their physical, mental and social well-being at risk. Migrants often face poverty and social exclusion, which has negative influences on health, especially in countries of transit and destination.

This chapter focuses on the human, economic and social rights of adolescents and youth (between 15 and 24 years of age), especially their right to health. It argues that the lack of protection and promotion of rights increases the health vulnerabilities of young migrants, especially in the context of irregular migration.

The free movement of people, goods and services is perceived to be a pillar of the sustained development of the European Union. At the same time Europe is facing continuous ageing of the population, and increased immigration flows over the last decade, which have become driving forces for the demographic changes, especially in EU 25. Furthermore, population mobility naturally entails challenges from the common strategy and policy, legislation, human rights and public health. Migration increases vulnerability to infectious diseases, and in particular HIV and Tuberculosis.

This document was developed within the framework of the “Increasing Public Health Safety alongside the New Eastern European Border Line” (PHBLM) Project.

Financial contribution: European Commission, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Hungarian Ministry of Health, the Regional Ministry of Health of Andalusia, and the University of Pécs and the Andalusian School of Public Health.

This is a summary report of the structured e-mail discussion on the links between population mobility, migration and HIV in Southern Africa, which was organized by the IOM in collaboration with the Health and Development Networks (HDN). The discussion took place on the AF-AIDS eForum, the regional eForum on HIV in Africa, from April to August 2005.

The discussion focused on three main topics:

Global assessments suggest that a substantial proportion of labour migrants ends up in situations of extreme exploitation, some of whom are identified as victims of human trafficking. Because large numbers of migrant workers fall into a “grey area” between trafficking (as defined by international and national law) and exploitative labour situations, there is good reason to explore the differences and similarities between the health needs of those who have been identified as trafficked compared to other migrants working in the same labour sector who have not.

Las evaluaciones mundiales sugieren que una proporción sustancial de los trabajadores migrantes terminan en situaciones de explotación extrema, algunos de los cuales han sido identificados como víctimas de trata de personas.