Concepts about migration and health: between quarantines ... and the health determinants

Abstract

International mobility and migration correspond to a global issue that has characterized societies. Its magnitude and distribution are estimated at 244 million migrants globally, which corresponds to 3.3% of the world’s population, 2018. It has sought to generate evidence, from different perspectives of analysis, on the conditions under which the migration process occurs, as well as on its social and health consequences. This essay contains three sections: the first one related to migration as a risk factor for the dissemination of infections and diseases at the global level, which has its origin before Christ and has been used as a reference for the design and implementation of public policies based on population control: isolation, quarantines. On the other hand, the hypothesis about the social determination of migration as a conditioner of health outcomes, whose antecedents go back more than two centuries, and only recently has been reconsidered as part of the social welfare explanations, based on human rights, is presented. Finally, the current situation, represented by different contexts of public policy at the global and local levels, is presented as an example of coexistence and antagonism of positions on migration, understood as the cause and consequence of various social issues, those of health, among they.