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Migration

The United Nations estimates that more than 270 million people migrate between countries annually. This section considers the ways in which changes in health are a driver of migration—both within and between countries—as well as how migration and the ways in which people who migrate are treated affect human health.

Migration

100,000

The United States announced in March 2022 that it will accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees

Ukrainian refugees Ukrainian refugees

3.4%

Percent of global population made up of migrants

Percent of global population made up of migrants Percent of global population made up of migrants

70.8 M

Millions people today have been forcibly displaced

Millions of people today have been forcibly displaced Millions of people today have been forcibly displaced

15.9 M

Refugees today have lived in exile for 5+ years

Millions of refugees today have lived in exile for 5+ years Millions of refugees today have lived in exile for 5+ years

Featured

Migration
Relatives and friends carry the caskets of Jair Valencia, 19, Yovani Valencia, 16, and Misael Olivares, 16, at their funeral in San Marcos Atexquilapan, in Veracruz, Mexico, on July 15, 2022. They died in a human trafficker’s truck, in Texas, in June 2022.

The Fraught Path from Latin America to the American Dream
by Isabella Rolz - January 9, 2023

The brother of two San Antonio truck tragedy survivors reflects on trauma and hope

Migration
Basotho shepherd and dog looking out from a mountain ledge, in Thaba Tseka, Lesotho. Photo courtesy of Edwin Remsberg

How Shepherds Access Health Care in Lesotho

by Chen Chen

Hurdles and innovations for nomadic and semi-nomadic people

Migration
A girl holds a sign on a white piece of paper at a rally against Islamophobia in Madrid, Spain, January 2015. The words on the birds say, "Peace, Respect, Love, Tolerance, and Coexistence.”

Islamophobia in the Delivery Room During a Crisis

by Vinayak Mishra

A new physician copes with death and colleagues' prejudice against a patient's cultural and religious identity

Bhawri Devi watches as her husband and son push an auto-rickshaw which got stuck in the sand on the way home from receiving cancer treatment, in a village in Jalore, India, on April 7, 2018.
Migration

India Needs Cancer Care Outside its Big Cities

by Elizabeth Soumya

India's poorest often travel hundreds of kilometers to access cancer care

An Afghan man rides a bicycle on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 30, 2015.
Migration

The Life of a Foreign Aid Practitioner

by Caroline Kantis

A review of "Bike Riding in Kabul," Jamie Bowman's unexpectedly humorous memoir of life as a foreign aid worker

An Syrian woman with a serious expression on her face dressed in dark colors holds a child who is partially obscured by a bright orange scarf draped over his head. On either side of her, are young men in winter coats walking with her through a desert landscape
Migration

Diabetes, Hypertension, and Heart Disease Don’t Stop for War

by Adrianna Murphy, Éimhín Ansbro

During humanitarian crises, chronic diseases become more complicated

Refugees from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol arrive at a registration and humanitarian aid center for internally displaced people amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on May 8, 2022.
Migration

The Cat-and-Mouse Game of Providing Health Care in Ukraine's Conflict Zone

by Anthony Fong

A Canadian physician reflects on his recent emergency medicine stint along the Ukrainian-Polish border

dummy babies are used during a protest against the war in Ukraine
Migration

Let Ukraine Set the Example for How to Treat Children Caught in Conflict 

by Maja Pašović, Ali H. Mokdad, Katherine Leach-Kemon, Laurent Grosvenor

The world should protect the safety of children in all war zones, including those who don't make the news

The front hall of the local government office in the village of Nychyporivka, around 100 kilometers Southeast of Kyiv.
Migration

Multigenerational Voices from the Wreckage of War-Torn Ukraine

by Elena Lesley

We should listen carefully to those under attack, and hear what they have to tell us

Life and happiness before the war. Holiday party at dad’s office. Sarajevo, December, 1990.
Migration

Notes from a War-Torn Childhood in Bosnia

by Maja Pašović

"I fear for Ukraine's children"

A woman fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine carries a child at the train station in Zahony, Hungary March 6, 2022.
Migration

Health Care at Hungary's Border

by Kristof Veres

Hungary has opened its arms and its health-care resources to Ukrainians fleeing Russia's war

People wait at the Ukrainian border in Vysne Nemecke, Slovakia, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine
Migration

Lifting the Curtain on COVID Border Restrictions

by Samantha Kiernan, Sarah Nance

Tracking COVID-19 entry policies for Ukrainian refugees

Refugees who fled from the Russian invasion in Ukraine rest inside a temporary camp at the train station in Przemysl, Poland, March 2, 2022.
Migration

The Fallout for People Forced to Leave Ukraine

by Mary Brophy Marcus, Lillian Posner

The short- and long-term health effects of the Russia-Ukraine war

Two girls stand in Lviv, Ukraine wearing traditional Ukrainian blouses and wrapped in the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag
Migration

Ukrainian Culture as Medicine

by Lillian Posner

Six books and movies to soothe the heartbreak of the war in Ukraine

An animated image of the documentary film’s protagonist, Amin, who fled Afghanistan as a boy with his mother and siblings.
Migration

The New Animated Film "Flee" Will Change How You Think About the Refugee Experience

by Mary Brophy Marcus

The documentary tells the real-life story of a man who fled Afghanistan as a child