RESUMO
Migrant health has been the subject of various international agreements in recent years. In parallel,there has been a growth in academic research in this area. However, this increase in focus atinternational level has not necessarily strengthened the capacity to drive evidence-informed nationalpolicy and action in many low- and middle-income countries. The Migration Health South Asia (MiHSA)network aims to challenge some of the barriers to progress in the region. Examples include the biastowards institutions in high-income countries for research funding and agenda-setting and the overalllack of policy-focused research in the region. MiHSA will engage researchers, funders and policymakersin collectively identifying the most pressing, yet feasible, research questions that could helpstrengthen migrant and refugee health relevant to the region’s national contexts. In addition, policiesand provisions for different migrant populations in the region will be reviewed from the health andrights perspectives, to identify opportunities to strategically align research agendas with the questionsbeing asked by policy-makers. The convergence of migration policy with other areas such as healthand labour at global level has created a growing imperative for policy-makers in the region to engagein cross-sector dialogue to align priorities and coordinate responses. Such responses must go beyondnarrow public health interventions and embrace rights-based approaches to address the complexpatterns of migration in the region, as well as migrants’ precarity, vulnerabilities and agency.
