Deported Mexican migrants: health status and access to care.

Julián Alfredo Fernández-Niño,Carlos Jacobo Ramírez-Valdés,Ietza Bojorquez-Chapela,Diego Cerecero-Garcia

doi:10.1590/s0034-8910.2014048005150

Julián Alfredo Fernández-Niño, Carlos Jacobo Ramírez-Valdés + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s0034-8910.2014048005150

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE To describe the health status and access to care of forced-return Mexican migrants deported through the Mexico-United States border and to compare it with the situation of voluntary-return migrants.METHODS Secondary data analysis from the Survey on Migration in Mexico’s Northern Border from 2012. This is a continuous survey, designed to describe migration flows between Mexico and the United States, with a mobile-population sampling design. We analyzed indicators of health and access to care among deported migrants, and compare them with voluntary-return migrants. Our analysis sample included 2,680 voluntary-return migrants, and 6,862 deportees. We employ an ordinal multiple logistic regression model, to compare the adjusted odds of having worst self-reported health between the studied groups.RESULTS As compared to voluntary-return migrants, deportees were less likely to have medical insurance in the United States (OR = 0.05; 95%CI 0.04;0.06). In the regression model a poorer self-perceived health was found to be associated with having been deported (OR = 1.71, 95%CI 1.52;1.92), as well as age (OR = 1.03, 95%CI 1.02;1.03) and years of education (OR = 0.94 95%CI 0.93;0.95).CONCLUSIONS According to our results, deportees had less access to care while in the United States, as compared with voluntary-return migrants. Our results also showed an independent and statistically significant association between deportation and having poorer self-perceived health. To promote the health and access to care of deported Mexican migrants coming back from the United States, new health and social policies are required.

Highlights

The deportation of Mexican migrants from the United States (US) has increased in the past years
Our results showed an independent and statistically significant association between deportation and having poorer self-perceived health
From 2003 to 2009, according to Mexico’s National Migration Institute, there were between 525,000 and 600,000 deportations.a In 2012 alone, 369,492 persons were deported from the US to Mexico.b Most of them were deported through the Mexico-US border, arriving into cities where they lacked social or family support networks, and facing difficult situations including social stigmatization, lack of employment, and violence.[4,12]

Summary

Introduction

The deportation of Mexican migrants from the United States (US) has increased in the past years. While in the US, Mexican migrants (and Latinos/ Hispanics in general) have less access to health services, as well as lower socioeconomic status and worse jobrelated conditions, as compared to non-Hispanic whites. This in turn is associated with poorer health. Mexican migrants face cultural, economic and language barriers to healthcare access.7,c,d As a result, they tend to postpone the search for medical care,e using other informal therapeutic itineraries instead such as selfmedication or telephone consultation with relatives, sometimes with negative health consequences.[11] All of a París Pombo MD. Available from: http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/nhdr12/nhdr12_prov.pdf d Salgado de Snyder N, González T, Bojorquez I, Infante C. Mexico (DF): Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública de México/Fundación Mexicana para la Salud/CONACYT; 2008

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