122. Migration and catastrophes, medical and occupational health considerations
- General about migration
- 3,5% of the world population lives outside their home country
- Legal migration
- Healthy migrant effect = legal migrants are usually young and healthy people and therefore healthier than the population they migrate to
- Illegal/irregular migration
- Nearly half of migrants are hoping to find work
- Migrants are essential to uphold the population in Europe as the fertility rate is low
- Health considerations of immigration into EU
- Most immigrants are from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.
- The prevalence of certain diseases may be many times higher in the country of origin than the host country
- TB, AIDS, etc.
- Certain diseases from the country of origin may be much less common in the host country
- This makes it less likely that physicians will recognize the disease
- There will also be less experience in treating the disease
- Certain diseases may manifest differently in different ethnicities
- For example, varicella in blacks
- Migrant reception centres are good places for outbreaks
- Measles, pertussis, cholera, etc.
- Due to under-immunization, poor hygiene, close contact, etc.
- Vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD)
- Communicable diseases which are eradicated in the host country but not in the country of origin
- Diphtheria, pertussis, measles, poliomyelitis, etc.
- Some of the countries which are the only ones in the world with certain VPDs have large out-migration
- For example, Sudan and Afghanistan have many cases of poliomyelitis
- Due to anti-vaccination movements the vaccine coverage of certain diseases (especially measles) is poor in certain regions of the EU, providing good grounds for an outbreak
- The vaccination coverage of many countries of origin is poor
- HAV, HBV, polio
- Vaccination of children of foreign nationality
- Migrant children who stay in Hungary for more than 3 months should receive the outstanding, age-appropriate vaccinations according to the national schedule
- Not all countries include migrants and refugees in their national immunization programmes
- Health care workers should be completely immunized according to their national schedule
- Upon entry, the migrants only undergo a brief ectoparasite screening before being placed in the community
- Reception centre in Debrecen is an exception; they undergo more rigorous screening of STDs, HIV, salmonella, HBV, HCV, TB, etc.
- Migrant and occupational health
- Includes both occupational health issues of the migrant workforce and the occupation health of those working with migrants
- Occupational health of those working with migrants
- Department of Public Health at POTE has since 2013 conducted research in national migrant infrastructure and the occupational health of staff who work with migrants
- 40% of the study population are sometimes exposed to human samples (blood, urine, faeces) at work
- 35 – 50% of the study population experienced verbal violence regularly
- 50% of the study population said that they have poor awareness of symptoms of infectious disease
- When asked about mode of transmission of certain infectious diseases, only 45% could answer more than 75% of the questions correctly
- Department of Public Health at POTE has since 2013 conducted research in national migrant infrastructure and the occupational health of staff who work with migrants
- Occupational health of the migrant workforce
- Migrant workers are subject to uncertainty, poor working conditions, low wages
- They’re often overqualified for their low-skilled jobs
- Migrants are overrepresented in low-wage, low-skill jobs
- They have little knowledge of their employment rights
- Migrant workers are overrepresented in industrial accidents and occupational diseases like hearing loss, silicosis, musculoskeletal disorders, etc.
- An Italian journalist pretended to be a Romanian illegal worker in a tomato field in Italy
- He had no water or electricity and lived in poor hygienic conditions
- He worked 14 hours a day
- Two men slept on one mattress on the floor
- Men had to provide the boss a woman to screw in order to get a job
- Prevention/improvement
- Provide migrants with information on their employment rights
- Protect the health and working conditions of migrants
- Provide better integration of migrants and their families
- Train health workers on working with migrants