MIGRATING FAMILIES

&
HEALTH

Prepared By: Summeira Asghar

Topic Titles

 Migrating Families and Health

 Cultural Change and Process of Change

 Factors Influencing Immigration

 Stages of Cultural Shock

 Challenges of Immigrant Populations

 Migrating Families & Health

Migration
The movement of a person or group of persons across an administrative or political border
from one geographical unit to another for temporary or permanent settlement.

Health
Health requires a state of physical, mental, and social well-being, not only the absence of disease or infirmity.
In the context of migration, health means the physical, mental, and social well-being of migrants and of
mobile populations.

Migration health
A specialized field of health sciences, characterized by its focus on the well-being of migrants
and communities in countries and regions of origin, transit, destination, and return. It has a
dual focus, addressing individual migrants' needs as well as the public health of host
communities.
 Cultural Change & Process of Change

Cultural Change: Modification of a society through innovation, invention, discovery,

or contact with other societies.
 Process of Cultural Change

 Invention
 Globalization
 War & Disaster
 Rights & Freedoms
 Law
 Design of Cities
 Infrastructure of Health & Other Facilities
 Betterment of Education
 Healthy Environment
Factors Influencing Migration and Population
Movements
 Factors Influencing Migration and Population
Movements
 Socio-political Factors
Rising communal violence world-wide, often as a result of ethnic or religious intolerance, has led
to increased levels of migration
 Economic Factors
Economic disparity between developing and developed economies encourages the movement of
skilled labor from the former to the latter. Temporary migration visas allow for an increase in the
rate of circular migration.
 Ecological factors
Changes in the ecological environment have the potential to worsen food and water insecurity in
various parts of the globe. Limited access to food and water resources may push people to migrate
to countries where these resources are more readily available.
 Stages of Cultural Shock
 The Honeymoon
They have made it! They have spent the last several years working toward this goal and it is finally
happening! Everything is new and exciting. They are fascinated by the novelty of their experiences and
enthusiastic about the opportunities before them.

 Initial Culture Shock

Migrants begins to fatigue and realize how different everything really is. They may begin to become
frustrated and annoyed at the differences and realize how much work it takes to manage within this new
culture. This is the stage during which you may hear from unhappy Migrants.

 Recovery and Adjustment:

Migrants able to resolve many of their conflicts and problems, they begin to appreciate the way things are
done in this new environment, they find helpful resources.
 Stages of Cultural Shock

 Isolation:
Perhaps Migrants anticipated, consciously or unconsciously, initial adjustments. They may have expected
that they would feel unhappy and homesick at some point and then things would get better.

 Assimilation and Adaptation:

If Migrant perseveres, they may eventually find that they has truly accepted their new life at this country
and they feel integrated into the culture.
Challenges of Immigration
 COMMON HEALTH CHALLENGES
 infectious diseases (tuberculosis, hepatitis)
 sexually transmitted infections
 non-infectious conditions (cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, oral/dental)
 mental and psychosocial illnesses
 occupational illnesses
 LANGUAGE BARRIERS
 It's no great surprise that language tops the list of issues facing immigrants to any country. Being able to communicate
(or not) affects every area of life in which we have to interact with others

 EMPLOYMENT
 The next barrier that many new immigrants commonly cite when starting life in a new country is finding suitable
employment
 HOUSING
 A big priority for anybody moving to a new area or country is to secure housing. Language barriers can be a big part of
the problem for immigrants but lack of local knowledge or how the housing market works in your new country can also
present problems
 ACCESS TO SERVICES
 The type, range and quality of services available in your new country is likely to be different to that of your native
country. Most immigrants admit that knowing what is available in the first place is a huge barrier