Recommendations for the response against COVID-19 in migratory contexts under a closed border: The case of Colombia.

Julián Alfredo Fernández-Niño,Michael Rodríguez,Andrés Cubillos,Ietza Bojórquez

doi:10.7705/biomedica.5512

Abstract

Despite the positive response of Colombia's health system to the arrival of Venezuelan migrants, the new challenges that accompany the COVID-19 pandemic have triggered a closed-borders response that runs the risk of encouraging a negative view of migrants and increasing their health risks.This manuscript discusses the recommendations that could be proposed in the case of a country with limited resources such as Colombia to respond to the needs of the Venezuelan mixed migrant flows.

Highlights

Despite the positive response of Colombia’s health system to the arrival of Venezuelan migrants, the new challenges that accompany the COVID-19 pandemic have triggered a closed-borders response that runs the risk of encouraging a negative view of migrants and increasing their health risks. This manuscript discusses the recommendations that could be proposed in the case of a country with limited resources such as Colombia to respond to the needs of the Venezuelan mixed migrant flows
Irregular migrants have a more limited access, but a strong policy of regularization starting in 2017 and kept since facilitated healthcare access for those that were able to obtain a special permanence permit. All these strategies were political decisions based on the right to health and intended to protect the members of mixed migration flows. Despite this positive response by the Colombian health system to the arrival of Venezuelan migrants, faced with the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic Colombia decided to close the border with Venezuela on March 16, 2020
Nationality should never be equated to illness and people coming from Venezuela, a country where only a few cases of the virus had been identified at the time of the border closure, were less likely to be carriers of COVID-19 than those arriving from Europe or some parts of the United States when the decision was made

Summary

Introduction

Recommendations for the response against COVID-19 in migratory contexts under a closed border: The case of Colombia This manuscript discusses the recommendations that could be proposed in the case of a country with limited resources such as Colombia to respond to the needs of the Venezuelan mixed migrant flows.

Results

Conclusion