Abstract
BackgroundPolicy makers and health practitioners are in need of guidance to respond to the growing geographic mobility of Hispano-American migrants in Europe. Drawing from contributions from epidemiology, social sciences, demography, psychology, psychiatry and economy, this scoping review provides an up-to-date and comprehensive synthesis of studies addressing the health status and determinants of this population. We describe major research gaps and suggest specific avenues of further inquiry.MethodsWe identified systematically papers that addressed the concepts “health” and “Hispano Americans” indexed in five data bases from Jan 1990 to May 2014 with no language restrictions. We screened the 4,464 citations retrieved against exclusion criteria and classified 193 selected references in 12 thematic folders with the aid of the reference management software ENDNOTE X6. After reviewing the full text of all papers we extracted relevant data systematically into a table template to facilitate the synthesising process.ResultsMost studies focused on a particular disease, leaving unexplored the interlinkages between different health conditions and how these relate to legislative, health services, environmental, occupational, and other health determinants. We elucidated some consistent results but there were many heterogeneous findings and several popular beliefs were not fully supported by empirical evidence. Few studies adopted a trans-national perspective and many consisted of cross-sectional descriptions that considered “Hispano-Americans” as a homogeneous category, limiting our analysis. Our results are also constrained by the availability and varying quality of studies reviewed.ConclusionsBurgeoning research has produced some consistent findings but there are huge gaps in knowledge. To prevent unhelpful generalisations we need a more holistic and nuanced understanding of how mobility, ethnicity, income, gender, legislative status, employment status, working conditions, neighbourhood characteristics and social status intersect with demographic variables and policy contexts to influence the health of the diverse Hispano-American populations present in Europe.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1799-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
IntroductionIn Switzerland, the majority of undocumented migrants residing in Geneva [2] and Lausanne [3] originate from HA countries
Policy makers and health practitioners are in need of guidance to respond to the growing geographic mobility of Hispano-American migrants in Europe
Most studies were conducted in Spain (65%), followed by Sweden (13%) and Italy (8%), with some additional papers conducted in other European countries, including Switzerland (3%), the United Kingdom (2%), The Netherlands (1%), Norway (1%), France (1%) and Finland (1%)
Summary
In Switzerland, the majority of undocumented migrants residing in Geneva [2] and Lausanne [3] originate from HA countries This relatively new migrant group is composed mainly of persons born in Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina, who migrate for economic reasons and are employed in low-skilled sectors including services, construction, domestic work and personal care. In Spain, the Hispano-American population has benefited from a “positive selection” legislation including facilities to obtain the Spanish nationality after two years of continued residence in Spain, as opposed to the 10-year requested for migrants of other origins. With an estimated 583,800 HAs having obtained a Spanish passport between 2004 and 2012 and persistently high unemployment rates in this country, a continuing increase of secondary migratory flows of these new European citizens within the EU is a plausible scenario
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