A New Focus on Migration Health

Kumar and Krasnik bring together migration and health as two fundamental issues in past and present global human development. The evolution of migrant health as a discipline is traced, commencing with a focus from infectious diseases and biological/genetic differences moving towards broader health issues including chronic and mental diseases. Main concepts and theories that have dominated the field so far are presented and existing evidence on how migration affects health are discussed, including the importance of life course perspectives. The chapter explores the implications and challenges for equity in access to and quality of health care. Finally, Kumar and Krasnik discuss the recent international policy developments and recommendations for improving migrant and ethnic minority health.