Social Determinants of Health and Well-being: An Analysis of the Northeast Migrant Workers Living in Delhi

Abstract

This research article aims to analyze migrants’ health and well-being in the context of Northeast Migrant Workers Living in Delhi. The World Health Organization (WHO) has considered the health of migrants as an important area of inquiry for policy making and the paper is post-migration lived experiences of the workers, which is related to the policy making agenda. An Existing conceptual framework of the social determinants of health and well-being are corroborated. The research design is an empirical work based on the selection of seven urban villages and five residential localities in Delhi. The study population is the Northeast migrant workers working in six occupational groups in the last 1-10 years in the age group 18-44 years with a sample of 120 respondents of both genders male and female including transgender persons. The data was collected through a semi-structured questionnaire followed by in-depth interviews from January 2017 to February 2018 and used qualitative and quantitative data analysis in my research. Among 120 migrant workers, 77.5% reported anxiety, 75.83% life insecurity, 70.83% alienation, 53.33% developed anger, 47.5% vulnerability, 43.33% lack of motivation, 42.5% loneliness, 41.66% feeling of resentment, 40.83% back and joint pains, 39.16% emotional crisis, 38.33% low self-esteem, 35.83% poor concentration, 33.33% self-depreciation, 25.83% poor vision, 2.5% miscarriage. The study shows that the distributions of self-reported health and well-being consequences are unevenly distributed and anxiety is to be found more reported among the migrant workers. The result was cross-checked among the Northeast migrant workers and it was found out that the social determinants such as socio-cultural differences, social discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes against the migrants play important determinants influencing the health and wellbeing of the migrants at the place of destination. Post-migration experience has both positive and negative consequences of health and well-being. The more social networks there are, the better is resilience to adapt to the new environment for better health and well-being and its coping mechanism.