Mexico-United States Migration: Health Issues

Publication Date: October 2005

Publisher: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research

Author(s): Salvador Berumen; Steven P. Wallace; Elena Zuniga

Research Area: Health; Population and demographics

Keywords: health conditions; Mexican-American; immigration

Type: Brief

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

The fundamental purpose of "Mexico-United States Migration: Health issues" is to present a general overview of the conditions faced by Mexican residents in the United States concerning their health care. Good health constitutes an essential asset for the integral development of an immigrant's capacities for performing labor and for social participation. Enjoying good health not only benefits the immigrants themselves and their descendents, both Mexican and American, but also has larger social and economic implications for both the receiving communities and the places of origin.

The health of immigrants, particularly the poorest and most mobile among them, is therefore a concern requiring attention from both Mexico and the United States in the form of programs and strategies with a binational perspective. The Ministry of Health and the National Population Council (Consejo Nacional de Población-CONAPO) of the Government of Mexico, and the University of California through the California-Mexico Health Initiative of the California Policy Research Center, Office of the President, and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research have produced this document.