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Minority and migrant health

Edited by Theodore Tulchinsky, Henrique Barros, Bent Greve, Walter Ricciardi
Public Health Reviews

Minority and migrant health are major Minority and migrant health © © obs/SOS-Kinderdörfer weltweit/Hermann-Gmeiner-Fonds/Katerina Ilievska /dpapolitical and public health problems globally. Millions of people are in a migrant state today, living in terrible conditions with little hope for acceptance in desirable but reluctant host countries. Moreover, countries already deal with existent minority health problems. One finds different aspects in different settings, but there is commonality in marginalization of health and inadequate levels of socioeconomic and health related interventions. In many parts of the world, the health of both legal and undocumented migrants suffers in relation to deprivations in host countries, including isolation, lack of legitimate residency, poverty, squalid living conditions, and insufficient access to perceptive and curative health care. The problems are international, affecting countries everywhere, and in previously homogeneous countries immigration is producing excluded minorities in poor health circumstances.

This collection of articles in Public Health Reviews explores the current health status of minority and migrant populations in selected countries, often with tragic social and cultural and health consequences. Intervention successes and failures are highlighted and recommendations are made for future needed approaches.

This article collection is sponsored by the Open Society Foundation - New York and was the subject of a Salzburg Workshop sponsored by The American Austrian Foundation in April 2016. Articles have undergone the journal's standard peer-review process overseen by the Guest Editors. The Guest Editors declare no competing interests.

  1. Twenty-five years ago, the need for health care interpreting in Switzerland increased due to the sharp influx of asylum seekers from war zones and countries of political unrest. Due to complex health needs, th...

    Authors: Alexander Bischoff
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2020 41:19
  2. Guidelines for improving the quality of maternal health services emphasise women’s involvement in care. However, evidence about migrant and ethnic minorities’ preferences for participation in maternal care rem...

    Authors: Cláudia De Freitas, Janka Massag, Mariana Amorim and Sílvia Fraga
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2020 41:5
  3. Throughout recent years, we have witnessed an increase in human migration as a result of conflict, political instability and changes in the climate. Despite the growing number of migrants and refugees, provisi...

    Authors: Nefti-Eboni Bempong, Danny Sheath, Joachim Seybold, Antoine Flahault, Anneliese Depoux and Luciano Saso
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2019 40:3
  4. Despite the greatly increased numbers of migrants and refugees worldwide in recent years, insufficient attention has been paid to addressing their health needs. While a variety of international instruments ass...

    Authors: Stephen A. Matlin, Anneliese Depoux, Stefanie Schütte, Antoine Flahault and Luciano Saso
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2018 39:27
  5. The growing numbers of refugees and immigrants from conflict-prone areas settling throughout the world bring several challenges for those working in the mental health care system. Immigrants and refugees of al...

    Authors: Lloy Wylie, Rita Van Meyel, Heather Harder, Javeed Sukhera, Cathy Luc, Hooman Ganjavi, Mohamad Elfakhani and Nancy Wardrop
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2018 39:22
  6. Migration between Mexico and the USA constitutes the world’s largest migration corridor with more than 13 million movements of people in 2016. Furthermore, Mexico has a complex migration profile, being a count...

    Authors: René Leyva-Flores, Juan Pablo Gutierrez, Cesar Infante, Tonatiuh Gonzalez-Vazquez and Laura Magaña-Valladares
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2018 39:25
  7. Hispanics are the largest minority group in the USA. They contribute to the economy, cultural diversity, and health of the nation. Assessing their health status and health needs is key to inform health policy ...

    Authors: Eduardo Velasco-Mondragon, Angela Jimenez, Anna G. Palladino-Davis, Dawn Davis and Jose A. Escamilla-Cejudo
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2016 37:31
  8. Changes in migration patterns that have occurred in recent decades, both quantitative, with an increase in the number of immigrants, and qualitative, due to different causes of migration (work, family reunific...

    Authors: Antonio Sarría-Santamera, Ana Isabel Hijas-Gómez, Rocío Carmona and Luís Andrés Gimeno-Feliú
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2016 37:28
  9. Migrant and minority health has always been an issue of special concern in public health. While migration is not a new phenomenon, the number of refugees and migrants across the globe grew rapidly in 2015, wit...

    Authors: Tina Bregant, Mariam Torosyan, Amanda Shriwise, Lukasz Balwicki and Ted Tulchinsky
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2016 37:26
  10. Population aging and the associated changes in demographic structures and healthcare needs is a key challenge across Europe. Healthy aging strategies focus on ensuring the ability to maintain health, quality o...

    Authors: Maria Kristiansen, Oliver Razum, Hürrem Tezcan-Güntekin and Allan Krasnik
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2016 37:20
  11. International organizations have defined and managed different aspects of migrant health issues for decades, yet we lack a systematic understanding of how they reach decisions and what they do on the ground. T...

    Authors: Alexander E. Kentikelenis and Amanda Shriwise
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2016 37:19
  12. Undocumented migrants (UMs) are at higher risk for health problems because of their irregular status and the consequences of economic and social marginalization. Moreover, the emergent reality of undocumented ...

    Authors: Elisabetta De Vito, Chiara de Waure, Maria Lucia Specchia, Paolo Parente, Elena Azzolini, Emanuela Maria Frisicale, Marcella Favale, Adele Anna Teleman and Walter Ricciardi
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2016 37:13
  13. Using a modified social ecological model, we conducted a review of the literature and nationwide statistics on African American health. We discuss the main social determinants of health and main health dispari...

    Authors: Allan S. Noonan, Hector Eduardo Velasco-Mondragon and Fernando A. Wagner
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2016 37:12
  14. Studies have shown that a high proportion of refugees have been subjected to potentially traumatic experiences (PTEs). PTEs, including torture, are powerful predictors of mental ill health. This paper reports ...

    Authors: Erika Sigvardsdotter, Andreas Malm, Petter Tinghög, Marjan Vaez and Fredrik Saboonchi
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2016 37:10
  15. This article probes into the health of migrants with a focus on the situation in the Nordic universal welfare states. The Nordic welfare states are further compared to each other with a comparison to the EU28 ...

    Authors: Bent Greve
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2016 37:9
  16. Immigrant and refugee populations bring public health challenges to host nations. In the current global refugee crisis, children are the most vulnerable subpopulation. Diseases that were considered rare in the...

    Authors: Tom D. Thacher, Pawel Pludowski, Nick J. Shaw, M. Zulf Mughal, Craig F. Munns and Wolfgang Högler
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2016 37:3
  17. The European response to the refugee crisis has been lamentable. A preoccupation with numbers has, too often, ignored how each refugee is an individual, many of whom have experienced the most appalling conditi...

    Authors: Bayard Roberts, Adrianna Murphy and Martin McKee
    Citation: Public Health Reviews 2016 37:1