PERCEPTIONS OF MIGRATION AND HEALTH AMONG MIGRATING WORKERS IN LUCKNOW, INDIA

The relationships between migration and health are multiple. There is growing evidence, albeit incomplete, that the process of migration and health of individuals and communities are inextricably intertwined in complex ways, with implications for those who move and those who are left behind.It is believed that migrants from rural to urban areas may be particularly vulnerable to developing obesity and diabetes, but little robust information to examine this hypothesis exists. Epidemiologists have traditionally hypothesised the health consequences of migration in terms of exposures experienced in the home country; exposures acquired in the new country; health or disease selection of those who migrate; and, exposures due to the process of migration itself. However, migration as an “exposure” is complex. The usual typologies of migrant – settler, contract worker, student, professional, illegal immigrant and refugee - are likely to be of less value in understanding health consequences than the process of migration. Age at migration and gender are likely to be key factors, but the speed, reasons for migration, together with the social disruption involved, might be expected to influence the health consequences experienced.