There are about 37 million Mexicans living in the U.S., nearly half of whom live poverty, and nearly a third of whom are unauthorized. Mexicans living in the U.S. also have the highest uninsurance rates of any racial/ethnic group (53%) and face myriad barriers to accessing adequate health care. In fact, around one third of Mexican immigrants to the U.S. is unaware that they have hypertension, and nearly half do not know they have diabetes. Moreover, about a quarter of those who have been diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension, and/or hypercholesterolemia are not in treatment. Data from earlier phases of Migrante has shown that Mexican migrants are also tested for HIV at inadequate rates and, as a result, this population has high rates of undetected HIV.
Experiences throughout the migration process can take a toll on migrants' health. One 2014 study found that Mexican migrants' health was significantly more likely to have declined 1-2 years post migration compared to that of their counterparts who had not migrated. Factors like poverty, isolation and familial separation, fear of deportation, and xenophobia can also increase Mexican migrants' risk of developing mental health and substance use issues. However, other studies have found that migration from Mexico to the U.S. can be protective of health. For example, rates of smoking decrease and use of preventive services increases once Mexican migrants move to the U.S. An epidemiologic transition in Mexico, as well as expanding medical coverage and increasing drug-related violence in the country, has fundamentally altered the conditions in sending and transit communities that can affect health.
In the last 10 years, we have witnessed significant changes in the characteristics, magnitude, and flow of Mexican migration. Mexican migrants with established ties to the U.S. have been deported en masse; between 2009 and 2019, 1.5 million Mexican migrants were deported. Moreover, whereas migration used to be focused in the western border region, it is now concentrated in the central and eastern parts of the border. Policies and laws like the Remain in Mexico policy and Title 42, invoked in response to the mass migration of migrants from the Northern Triangle countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) and the COVID-19 pandemic, also have the potential to alter the health profile of migrants and their sending, transit, and receiving communities.
With over 350 million people crossing the Mexico-U.S. border each year, it is essential to develop instruments that can track changes in the health determinants, health outcomes, and levels of healthcare access over time among migrant populations. For the past 14 years, with funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD), the Migrante Project has been doing just this. Using a a novel sampling design and an innovative methodological approach, we have been able to generate population-level estimates of health behaviors, disease burden, and vulnerability to risk and protective factors among Mexican migrants at all phases of migration.
Experiences throughout the migration process can take a toll on migrants' health. One 2014 study found that Mexican migrants' health was significantly more likely to have declined 1-2 years post migration compared to that of their counterparts who had not migrated. Factors like poverty, isolation and familial separation, fear of deportation, and xenophobia can also increase Mexican migrants' risk of developing mental health and substance use issues. However, other studies have found that migration from Mexico to the U.S. can be protective of health. For example, rates of smoking decrease and use of preventive services increases once Mexican migrants move to the U.S. An epidemiologic transition in Mexico, as well as expanding medical coverage and increasing drug-related violence in the country, has fundamentally altered the conditions in sending and transit communities that can affect health.
In the last 10 years, we have witnessed significant changes in the characteristics, magnitude, and flow of Mexican migration. Mexican migrants with established ties to the U.S. have been deported en masse; between 2009 and 2019, 1.5 million Mexican migrants were deported. Moreover, whereas migration used to be focused in the western border region, it is now concentrated in the central and eastern parts of the border. Policies and laws like the Remain in Mexico policy and Title 42, invoked in response to the mass migration of migrants from the Northern Triangle countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) and the COVID-19 pandemic, also have the potential to alter the health profile of migrants and their sending, transit, and receiving communities.
With over 350 million people crossing the Mexico-U.S. border each year, it is essential to develop instruments that can track changes in the health determinants, health outcomes, and levels of healthcare access over time among migrant populations. For the past 14 years, with funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD), the Migrante Project has been doing just this. Using a a novel sampling design and an innovative methodological approach, we have been able to generate population-level estimates of health behaviors, disease burden, and vulnerability to risk and protective factors among Mexican migrants at all phases of migration.