Migration and health: Challenges and trends
Publisher/Organizer: Norwegian Directorate of Health
Publication date: 2009
Number of pages: 96
Language: English
Overview
“Migration has been a phenomenon throughout the ages. The reasons for migration across national borders are many and complex: fleeing war, persecution and disasters are among the key reasons, but the vast majority of migrants move in order to find work or obtain education. Many migrants also seek to be reunited with family members who emigrated before them. Migration challenges society, offers new opportunities and contributes to diversity and change. For many, migration brings positive outcomes and opportunities for a better life.….
People lead transnational lives. People’s identities break away from the single national identity, and many individuals have and seek to form strong ties with several countries and environments. Increasing migration and the adoption of a new sense of Norwegian national identity embodying greater diversity holds new opportunities. This also entails the interaction of cultures and religions with other traditions and perceptions of health and disease.
The migrant group is heterogeneous and made up of a diverse range of people: from unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors to Swedish café workers, the members of Pakistani family reunifications, Turkish grocers, British stockbrokers and Indian IT experts. It follows that there will be great variation between different patient and user groups.
At present there are some 460,000 persons residing in Norway who either immigrated themselves or were born in Norway of immigrant parents. All told, these persons make up 9.7 percent of the population.”
Migration and health is a complex of issues and concerns, and the present document is not an exhaustive report on this field. By way of introduction, the report presents a wide backdrop to the issues surrounding migration and health.