Determinants of migrants’ health

Course leader
Esperanza Diaz, Associate Professor, University of Bergen, and senior researcher, Norwegian Public Health Institute.

Lecturers
Bernadette Kumar, Unit for migration and Health, the Norwegian Public Health Institute
Henriette Sinding Aasen, Faculty of Law, UiB
Daniela Elena Costea, Gade Laboratory for Pathology, Haukeland University Hospital, UiB

The unprecedented migration levels around the world make the integration, health and wellbeing of both migrants and their host societies a challenge. Migrants are often overrepresented among socially vulnerable or minority groups and their health is key to integration in host societies.

UN Sustainable Development Goal #3 seeks to ensure health and well-being for all, at every stage of life, and SDG#10 calls for reducing inequalities in income as well as those based on age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status within a country. This goal also addresses inequalities among countries, including those related to migration. However, migration interacts with several socioeconomic factors and life trajectories in specific ways that need to be understood and addressed consequently.

This course will give a comprehensive view of the theme with examples of evidence based interventions that can improve the health of immigrants.

Learning outcomes
On completion of the course, we expect the following learning outcomes related to the field of migration and health:

The student knows available scientific knowledge and how to interpret it; different research methods, statistical concepts and ethical perspectives in research;interventions available, how they are chosen and why they are used.

The student shall be able to critically evaluate scientific knowledge and evaluate provision of health and the effect of health interventions.

The student reflects upon the role of different disciplines and research methods, and can discuss quality of research, actionable knowledge; the relevance of the media and leadership for health.

Credits
Participation at the BSRS is credited under the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Participants submitting an essay, in a form of a publishable manuscript of 10-20 pages, after the end of the summer school will receive 10 ECTS. Deadline for submission will be decided by your course leader.

It is also possible to participate without producing an essay. This will give you 4 ECTS. In order to receive credits, we expect full participation in the course-specific modules, plenary events and roundtables.

Esperanza Diaz is a medical doctor, specialist in Family Medicine. She obtained her PhD at the University of Bergen in 2008. She works as associate professor at the University of Bergen and part time as senior researcher at the Norwegian Public Health Institute. She has conducted research and written numerous papers and chapters in the field of migration and health during the last 10 years. Together with Dr Kumar, she has newly published the book Migrant health. A primary Care Perspective.