Migration and health : evidence from Kanchanaburi DSS

Abstract

Several studies have been carried out to understand reasons for migration in developing countries; yet little has been done to understand health consequences of migration. Using data from 2000-2003 Kanchanaburi Demographic Surveillance System (KDSS) of the Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, this thesis explores whether migration has any relation with the health status of migrants. The analysis made use of the data obtained from interviews of 24,412 individuals aged 15 and older, both male and female migrants and non-migrants. In order to assess the relation between migration and health, the analysis constructed two models; the first model focused on migration and health status measured in terms of self-reported illness, the second model focused on migration and health risk behavior measured in terms of cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking. Logistic regression analyses, taking migration as the main predictor with socio-economic, demographic and environmental factors as control variables, reveal that migration appears to have no significant relation with health. Similarly, multinomial logistic regression shows, migration appears to have no significant relation with types of diseases. However, ordinal regression analyses show migration has significant relation with health risk behaviors, i.e. smoking cigarette and drinking alcohol. Overall, the results presented in this paper suggest appropriate interventions aimed at reducing health risk behaviors among the migrants.