Migration, mobility and health

Migration, the movement of people across political jurisdictions, has long been an axiomatic element of globalization, both old and new. The increased flows of refugees and internally displaced populations today, however, rank amongst the most critical political issues facing nations and international governing institutions. With population densities and resource demands increasing, and with larger numbers of the ‘Global South’ seeking access to the ‘Global North’, xenophobic sentiments are stirred, with increases in gendered, ethnic, and religious discrimination. Governmental, intergovernmental and international humanitarian efforts struggle to find ways to intervene to protect the health of affected populations. At the same time as borders are increasingly closed to some migrants and refugees, they are increasingly open to ‘economic’ migrants and highly skilled individuals, including health workers. The flows of such individuals from poorer to richer countries has been argued as exacerbating global health inequities (although not all agree that it does), even as patients with the financial means are able to cross borders to seek medical care, posing both risks and benefits to both home and destination countries. Papers submitted under this section will focus on all forms of international mobilities, their enablers and barriers, and the role played by globalization processes in their dynamics, and in how they increase or reduce inequities in global health.