Political migrant

The sea crossing from Libya to Italy is one of the world's most dangerous and politically contentious migration routes, and yet over half a million people have attempted the crossing since 2014. Leveraging data on aggregate migration flows and individual migration incidents, we estimate how migrants and smugglers have reacted to changes in the border enforcement regime, namely the rise in interceptions by the Libyan Coast Guard starting in 2017 and the corresponding decrease in the probability of rescue to Europe...

People on the move are increasingly immobilised between and within state borders, having left 'there' but not allowed to be fully 'here'. This paper presents a nuanced examination of this state of enforced in--betweenness, exploring how refugees and other migrants negotiate collective existence through, despite, and alongside liminality. Drawing on ethnographic data collected at a Swiss Red Cross psychotraumatology centre, the study identifies factors that impede and facilitate the formation of collective identities, with temporal and spatial liminality emerging as the most central collective experience for refugees and other migrants...

CONTEXT: This article examines the EU's function as political determinant of health (PDoH) in national-level regulation of forced migrants' access to health(care), with a focus on Germany. It sheds light on the role the EU has come to play - and been assigned - in national policymaking under the impression of different crises. METHODS: By applying the concepts of claims and frames/framing, the article examines in a document analysis how and to what end(s) 'the EU' as a polity as well as specific EU legislation were invoked in German draft legislation...

The health and well-being of transnational migrant domestic workers (MDWs) is a pressing but largely neglected public health concern. The Asia Pacific region is home to over 20% of the global MDW population. Living and working conditions, social contexts, political environments, and migration regimes are recognized as consequential to the health of this population, but currently no synthesis of available literature to prioritize research or policy agenda setting for MDW has yet been conducted. This scoping review screened 6,006 peer-reviewed articles and 1,217 gray literature sources, identifying 173 articles and 276 gray literature sources that reported key MDW health outcomes, social determinants of health, and related interventions...

OBJECTIVES: This study summarised evidence on the prevalence of interpersonal, community and state physical violence against people in insecure migration status. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of primary studies that estimated prevalence of physical violence against a population in insecure migration status. We searched Embase, Social Policy and Practice, Political Science Complete, SocINDEX and Web of Science Social Sciences Citation Index for reports published from January 2000 until 31 May 2023...

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. While countries in the Arab world continue to lack public health data and be severely understudied in health research, previous research has shown that compared to 1990, CVDs had a higher burden of disease in the Arab World in 2010. Jordan, a middle-income Arab country, is profiled with unique attributes such as a dual-sector healthcare system, political stability, and its role as a haven for refugees and migrants...

This article considers how distanciation, understood as the active production of different forms of distance as a method of control, is used to manage people racialised and criminalised as migrants within the UK's hostile environment. Analysing different policies introduced under the hostile environment agenda, as well as the more recent New Plan for Immigration, we argue distanciation is a key tactic that shapes these policies and their implementation as well as offers us insight into changing forms of governing migration...

On August 31, 2023, the Chilean government ended the health alert for COVID-19. This milestone invites us to reflect on lessons learned in emergency preparedness and response regarding migrant populations in the country. In this context, three perspectives are presented. The first focuses on avoiding pointing to individual responsibility for non-compliance with prevention measures, as this approach ignores structural and historical inequities. Emergency recommendations should be constructed considering a collective approach and diverse sociocultural and political contexts...

BACKGROUND: In 2016, the World Health Organization propagated the elimination of hepatitis C virus (HCV) by 2030 in order to address the public health threat posed by viral hepatitis. This article looks at the progress that has been made globally and in Germany since 2016. METHODS: A selective literature search was conducted, with particular focus on studies and reviews relating to the elimination of hepatitis C infection both globally and in Germany...

BACKGROUND: Immigrants are exposed to numerous risk factors that may contribute to the development of chronic musculoskeletal pain. Recent political and environmental crises in North Africa and the Middle East have led to an increase in immigration to Europe that has challenged the healthcare system and especially the management of chronic conditions. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this scoping review are to investigate the burden, prevalence, and associated factors of chronic musculoskeletal pain in immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East in Europe during the last decade...

This article aims at raising awareness about the intersection of populism and bioethics. It argues that illiberal forms of populism may have negative consequences on the evolution of bioethics as a discipline and on its practical objectives. It identifies at least seven potential negative effects: (1) The rise of populist leaders fosters "epistemological populism," devaluing the expert and scientific perspectives on which bioethics is usually based, potentially steering policies away from evidence-based foundations...

Societal processes and public opinion can affect whether employers take action and which policy measures they choose to boost diversity, equal opportunities and inclusion, and to reduce discrimination in the workplace. Yet, public opinion regarding workplace diversity initiatives (other than affirmative action) has so far received little scholarly attention, especially in Europe. Consequently, we have very little evidence about how the general public feels about workplace diversity policies - particularly those that are more common or more often discussed in Europe - and about which factors shape public support for these workplace diversity initiatives...

BACKGROUND: In Italy, there is a network of centres headed by the Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (AIEOP) for the diagnosis and treatment of paediatric cancers on almost the entire national territory. Nevertheless, migration of patients in a hospital located in a region different from that of residence is a widespread habit, sometimes motivated by several reasons. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of migration of children with cancer to AIEOP centres in order to verify their optimal distribution throughout the national territory...

Social integration, a huge issue triggered by migration, leads to potential social fragmentation and confrontation. Focusing on the precise enhancement of "inner" subjective social integration is the ultimate urbanization solution to enhance people-centered well-being and promote full social integration. This article used data from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey 2017 (CMDS 2017) to reveal the spatial patterns and mechanisms of subjective social integration in Chinese cities. We make an innovative attempt to introduce multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) to address the appropriateness of policy formulation by addressing the spatial variation in the factors...

We explore whether there are value preferences of creative workers in addition to tolerance and how these value preferences vary among different occupation categories and countries. We use a dataset of 1968 and 1076 observations in China and the U.S., respectively, from the World Values Survey dataset (2017-2020, wave 7) (WVS 7), with a Structure Equation Modelling (SEM) and Multinomial Logit Model (MLM) at the micro level. The findings reveal that (1) the Chinese sample is more likely to have a balanced preference of tolerance towards migrants, religions, and homosexuality, while the American sample's preference of tolerance is much more likely to be interpreted as accepting homosexuality only; (2) the American sample also shows preferences towards responsibility, technology, work style, and political actions, while a preference for happiness and political actions is identified in the Chinese sample; and (3) with a higher level of creativity, the difference regarding understanding of tolerance is more likely to be highlighted between China and the U...

Nearly 1 in 4 Canadians was born outside of Canada. Immigration policies shape the composition, socioeconomic characteristics, and health of the immigrant population in Canada. The health of migrants is also influenced by a confluence of social, economic, environmental, and political factors. Immigrants and refugees often face various barriers to accessing health care, due to factors such as lack of familiarity with navigating the health care system, language barriers, systemic racism, and gaps in health insurance...

The COVID-19 transmission in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) was influenced by various factors such as conflict, demographics, travel and social restrictions, migrant workers, weak health systems, and mass gatherings. The countries that responded well to COVID-19 had high-level political commitment, multisectoral coordination, and existing infrastructures that could quickly mobilize. However, some EMR countries faced challenges due to political instability and fragile health systems, which hindered their response strategies...

Historically, doctors have migrated for a range of personal, educational, economic, and political reasons. Likewise, medical students from many countries have moved abroad to complete their training and education and may or may not return to their country of origin. Within this context, globalisation has had a major impact on medical education and healthcare workforces, contributing to recent migration trends. Globalisation is a complex phenomenon with positive and negative outcomes. For example, lower-income countries are regularly losing doctors to higher-income areas, thereby exacerbating strains on existing services...

BACKGROUND: The exploitation of migrant workers ranks high on global political agendas including the Sustainable Development Goals. Research on exploited workers, using assessment tools where exploitation is defined by professional experts, indicates serious health concerns and needs. Yet, migrant workers are rarely asked about their understanding of a phenomenon they may experience. Our study aimed to conceptualise 'labour exploitation' from the perspective of migrant workers employed in manual low-skilled jobs...

This study aimed to provide a critical analysis of the current literature on the use of digital mental health interventions (DMHIs) for the management and treatment of mental health disorders among refugees and asylum seekers. These groups are among the most disadvantaged compared to the general population in terms of health and socio-economic status, due to conflicts and wars. The number of refugees fleeing their home countries is growing exponentially, and refugees experience trauma, torture, persecution and human right abuses, which have a profound effect on their mental health and overall well-being...