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A new book, Migration, Health and Inequality, edited by Felicity Thomas and Jasmine Gideon, is being released by Zed Books in January 2013.
I've contributed a chapter to the book called 'Harnessing "diasporic" medical mobilities'. Arguing that migrant diasporas are increasingly pegged as the ‘natural’ markets for and ‘ambassadors’ to the world-class private health care increasingly available in their countries of origin, the chapter explores the pursuit and provision of health care by migrant populations ‘back home’, and examines the potential of healthcare to deepen their diasporic linkages with the countries of origin.
Here's the book's promotional blurb:
'Should migrants have the same rights as citizens to health care services? What do we mean by rights and by health? And how do we uphold such rights when diasporic networks provide a diversity of opportunities and constraints for people seeking to maintain or restore their health?
Answering these pressing questions, this book highlights recent developments in the areas of migration, human rights and health from a range of countries. Looking at diverse health issues, from HIV to reproductive and maternal health, and a variety of forms of migration, including asylum seeking, labour migration and trafficking, this timely volume exposes the factors that contribute to the vulnerability of different mobile groups as they seek to uphold their wellbeing.
Migration, Health and Inequality argues that we need to look beyond host country responses and biomedical frameworks and include both the role of transnational health networks and indigenous, popular or lay ideas about health when trying to understand why many migrants suffer from low levels of health relative to their host population. Offering a broad range of linkages between migrant agency, transnationalism and diaspora mechanisms, this unique collection also looks at the impact of migrant health on the health and rights of those communities that are left behind.'
