9 - Population movements and health: global research needs

Summary

People are on the move. In 1981, over 700 million passengers were carried by the world's airlines. Many more people used less-monitored means of transportation: car, bus, train, boat, bicycle, donkey, foot. The reasons for these population movements are manifold – political, economic, social, medical – and they have been subjects of study for decades. The resulting social and economic consequences of population movements have also been topics of study and issues of traditional concern to policymakers. Now, as growing numbers of people are introducing (and being introduced to) new elements in new environments, increasing heed is being paid to previously neglected consequence of population movements: health and associated changes in diseases.

My purpose here is to highlight research needs and opportunities in the area of health and population movements. Major research topics will be discussed and then summarized in a common conceptual framework. More detailed reviews of health-related issues associated with population movement, in both developed and developing countries, have been made by Velez and Zarate. Background documents and reports have been prepared for various meetings sponsored by the Pan American Health Organization, the World Health Organization, and other agencies, and will be discussed below.

Throughout this paper it is emphasized that the aim of research activities is to assist planners and managers in designing programmes to minimize the health-related hazards of population movements.