Labor migration and health in Romania

1
Labor migration and health in Romania
Razvan M. Chereches, MD PhD Alexandru Coman, MD

• The Effects of International Labor Migration on
  Political Learning Workshop, Cluj-Napoca,
  Romania, June 6-7 2008

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Labor migration and health in Romania

• Children and spouses left behind by migrants
• Only few studies
• Health status and problems

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Labor migration and health in Romania

• Psychosocial issues
• Separation of spouses marital problems
  divorce
• Reunification men sexually and emotionally
  distant (de Jong, 1994)
• New relations / idealization beyond reality
• Most affected immigrant children or children
  left behind

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Labor migration and health in Romania

• Psychosocial issues
• Women left behind - stress associated with the
  welfare of the absent husband, acquisition of new
  responsibilities and obligations and family
  disintegration (De Snyder 1993)
• Migration of spouses, coupled with non-remittance
  of financial support is associated with marked
  health effects in the family left behind women
  are more vulnerable than men (Burazeri 2007)
• The familial reorganization influences timely
  health care-seeking behavior of female partners
  of migrants (Caballero 2008)

5
Labor migration and health in Romania

• Psychosomatic problems
• Peptic ulcer (Muynck 1997) or stress-related
  ulcer (Huismann et al. 1997)
• Chronic tension headaches (van Wieringen et al.
  1986)
• Chronic anxiety, sleep disorders, frequent
  headaches (Janson et al. 1997)
• Hypochondria and paranoia (Gaspar Siles 1997)
• Cultural differences in perceiving health, body
  and causes of disease

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Labor migration and health in Romania

• Psychosomatic problems
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Fear of sexually transmitted infections among
  women with male migrant partners (Hughes 2006)
• Schizophrenia
• Depression suicides (de Jong 1994)

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Labor migration and health in Romania

• Systematic literature review
• Miclutia, Ioana, et al. "Migration, mental health
  and costs consequences in Romania." - The journal
  of mental health policy and economics 10.1
  (2007)43-50
• Migration effects children left behind. Risks
  and solutions Soros Foundation Romania

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Labor migration and health in Romania

• Media coverage
• 8 years old hangs himself after his mother went
  to Spain to work - Wednesday, February 27, 2007
• 17 years old throws himself from the seventh
  floor both parents working abroad - Wednesday,
  April 9, 2007
• 12 year old boy kills himself after finding out
  that his mother will return to work in Italy -
  Wednesday, O ctober 1, 2007
• Missing his parents,16 years old shooting
  champion kills himself Thurday, December 20,
  2007

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Labor migration and health in Romania

• Interdisciplinary approach
• Political sciences
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Public health
• Medicine
• Communication sciences
• Social welfare

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Labor migration and health in Romania

• Research
• Psychological disorders in children left behind
  by migrant parents
• Psychosomatic problems of spouses and children of
  migrants
• Prevalence of alcohol, cigarettes and drug abuse
  comparison between children of migrants and
  non-migrants
• Probability to go to high school and university
  of children left behind by migrant parents