Generating Evidence to Improve the Health and Well-being of Low income Migrant Workers from South Asia

International labour migration exposes migrant workers to physical and mental illnesses and deaths (Carruth et. al. 2021, Moyce & Schenker 2018, Castaneda et. al. 2015).

Beyond their sufferings in the migrant destinations, including heat exposure and poor working and living conditions (Mishra et. al. 2019), many migrants are also tied to high interest debt back home and are widely susceptible to deception during recruitment, the weight of which does not just put them in weaker financial situation and loss of assets and dignity, but also leads to negative impact on their physical and mental health.

As many as 10,000 migrant workers from South Asia and South East Asia die in the Gulf annually, and more than 1 out of every 2 deaths is effectively unexplained and that migrant workers have intermittent access to healthcare services in destinations (Vitalsigns 2022).

This transdisciplinary collaborative project aims to understand the prevalence, nature and the causes of death, injury and ill-health amongst South Asian migrant workers.

More critically, it engages in high level policy dialogues with the governments in sending countries and international organisations (e.g IOM, ILO and WHO) to co-design policies and interventions to better protect migrant workers health and well-being.