Towards an International Public Health Policy: Migration and tropical Diseases

ABSTRACT

In 2020, 272 million people were considered international migrants, which means that 1 in 30 people in the world live outside their country of origin or habitual residence. Currently, the Andean region, made up of five South American countries Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, hosts almost 5 and a half million international migrants. These five nations have similar socio-environmental characteristics, such as sectors with economic poverty, low hygienic conditions and deficiencies in health programs that together with the fauna, ecology and the presence of biological risks typical of the tropical zone, trigger the reemergence of tropical diseases. In 2020, the combined risk of all of them was added the high pathogenic level of COVID-19, affecting millions of citizens and migrants, both Andean and intercontinental, but especially those in an irregular condition. The adoption of successful international public health policies will make it possible to face the health contingencies that affect this group in the Andean region. © 2021 Instituto de Altos Estudios de Salud Publica. All rights reserved.