Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jan 1;2(1):34-40.
doi: 10.1080/21642850.2013.866898.

Migration and Health in Southern Africa: 100 years and still circulating

Mark N Lurie  1 , Brian G Williams  2
Affiliations

Migration and Health in Southern Africa: 100 years and still circulating

Mark N Lurie et al. Health Psychol Behav Med. .

Abstract

Migration has deep historical roots in South and southern Africa and to this day continues to be highly prevalent and a major factor shaping South African society and health. In this paper we examine the role of migration in the spread of two diseases nearly 100 years apart: tuberculosis following the discovery of gold in 1886 and HIV in the early 1990s. Both cases demonstrate the critical role played by human migration in the transmission and subsequent dissemination of these diseases to rural areas. In both cases, migration acts to assemble in one high-risk environment thousands of young men highly susceptible to new diseases. With poor living and working conditions, these migration destinations act as hot-spots for disease transmission. Migration of workers back to rural areas then serves as a highly efficient means of disseminating these diseases to rural populations. We conclude by raising some more recent questions examining the current role of migration in southern Africa.

Keywords: Africa; HIV; Migration; TB; health.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Carballo M., Divino J. J., Zeric D. Migration and health in the European Union. Tropical Medicine and International Health. 1998;3(2):936–944. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-3156.1998.00337.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Clark S. J., Collinson M. A., Kahn K., Drullinger K., Tollman S. M. Returning home to die: Circular labour migration and mortality in South Africa. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. 2007;69:35–44. doi: 10.1080/14034950701355619. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Coffee M., Lurie M., Garnett G. Modelling the impact of migration on the rural HIV epidemic in South Africa. AIDS. 2007;21:343–350. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0b013e328011dac9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Collinson M., Lurie M., Kahn K., Wolff B., Johnson A., Tollman S. Health consequences of migration: Evidence from South Africa's rural north-east (Agincourt) In: Tienda M., Findley S. E., Tollman S., Preston-Whyte E., editors. Africa on the move: African migration and urbanisation in comparative perspective. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand Press; 2006. pp. 308–328.
    1. Crush J. Inflexible migrancy: New forms of migrant labour on the South African gold mines. Labour, Capital and Society. 1992;25(1):46–71.

LinkOut - more resources