Elsevier

The Lancet

Volume 392, Issue 10164, 15–21 December 2018, Pages 2606-2654
The Lancet

The Lancet Commissions
The UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health: the health of a world on the move

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32114-7Get rights and content

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Executive summary

With one billion people on the move or having moved in 2018, migration is a global reality, which has also become a political lightning rod. Although estimates indicate that the majority of global migration occurs within low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), the most prominent dialogue focuses almost exclusively on migration from LMICs to high-income countries (HICs). Nowadays, populist discourse demonises the very same individuals who uphold economies, bolster social services, and

Migration is a dynamic process

Migration seldom involves a single long journey from one place to settle in another. The diversity and complexity of migration patterns include people travelling long and short distances, within and across borders, for temporary or permanent residency, and often undertaking the journey multiple times. A clear delineation or rigid categorisation of different types of migration is rarely possible. The categorisation process attempts to classify a large, heterogeneous population according to

Section 2. Achieving safe and healthy migration

A strong case for action on migration and health exists, and evidence indicates that safeguarding the health of migrants will have positive effects for global wealth and population health. Countries have a moral and legal obligation to respect the human rights of migrants, although these obligations are not always respected by states. Over the past century, multilateral agencies and nation states have moved the migration and health agenda forward through various notable instruments and events (

International migration and mortality

For many years, researchers pursued the theory of a healthy migrant effect, which has been described as “an empirically observed mortality advantage of migrants from certain countries of origin, relative to the majority population in the host countries, usually in the industrialised world”.221 However, not surprisingly, this theory is now considered to be reductionist because it neglects the diversity and complexity of migration-related factors that influence people's health and how these

Section 4. Knowledge to address future migration and health challenges

This Commission argues for a paradigm shift in research on migration and health, with a deliberate effort to enhance the funding mechanisms and networks supporting this change. Collaborative work is needed that links academia, policy, and front-line health and humanitarian workers. Research in migration and health has traditionally been difficult to do, partly because of the high mobility of migrants.298 In this section, we outline how we can generate better knowledge to meet the needs of

Conclusion

Migration should be urgently treated as a core determinant of health and wellbeing and addressed as a global health priority of the 21st century. Migration and global health are both defining issues of our time. How the world addresses human mobility will determine public health and social cohesion for decades to come. Our work for this Commission aimed to provide robust evidence on migration and health to examine the structures, systems, and contexts at the intersection of human mobility and

The post-Commission phase

The Commission hopes to inspire action, building on the health and health determinant aspects of the Global Compact for Migration and Global Compact on Refugees, through various key initiatives. There is considerable momentum in the migration and health community to move from recommendations to action. We plan to engage at multiple levels of public life to raise the profile of migration and health. This engagement would be at the community level with the public, including migrants themselves

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    • Cited by (0)

    *

    Writing group

    †

    Dr Mosca retired in November 2017

    ‡

    Full list of contributing authors at the end of the report

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