Why talk about immigrant health?

I am not a doctor, nurse or a public health professional, but someone who is passionate about health issues.

This blog is not about another health advocate joining the ranks of the zealots out there. I am sure these folks understand health issues and can probably articulate it better than I can.

But the issues that they choose to highlight in their columns stay, so very "mainstream". Although I have been in Canada for nearly a decade, I have very rarely come across nuanced discussion on immigrant health in the media.

I can see some raised eyebrows and the question, "What is so peculiar about immigrant health"? Immigration is now considered a crucial factor along with the other social determinants of health, in deciding whether someone would enjoy good health or not.

What exactly are these "social determinants of health". What it means is that your living conditions determine how your health will turn out to be. Are you poor or rich? Are you chronically stressed at work? Where do you live? Do you walk or drive everywhere? Are there sidewalks in your neighbourhoods that would encourage healthy living? Are you a man or a woman? (In certain parts of the world, this one factor alone can determine how good your health will be). Your race is another factor which decides the quality of your health. Aboriginals and other racialized minorities have health issues that are rarely discussed in mainstream society.

When an immigrant moves to Canada, he or she is vetted for health problems before the permanent residency card is issued. Which means that Canadian immigrants are healthy on arrival (Canadian immigrants here mean economic immigrants, not refugees). Studies have shown that this good health often declines after about a decade here and they are often more ill than Canadians who have lived all their lives here.

This slide into bad health is precipitated by the stresses related to migration and resettlement. What exactly are those migration related stresses?
To be contd...