Migration and the geography of disease

Migrants are a heterogeneous population which includes internally displaced persons, temporary migrants and workers, students, conventional travelers, visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travelers, immigrants, refugees and adoptees. Each of these groups will present distinct challenges regarding public health issues and possible interventions and all these groups contribute to changes in the global geography of infectious disease. Noncommunicable diseases associated with migration include genetic diseases such as hemoglobinopathies, autoimmune diseases, psychological or psychiatric problems, and nutritional deficiencies. Communicable diseases and infectious diseases in immigrants can be classified as common infections (such as respiratory infections and vaccine‐preventable diseases), transmissible infections (HIV, tuberculosis (TB), syphilis), and infections which are more typical of tropical areas, such as typhoid fever (more frequent in immigrants from the Indian subcontinent), malaria (in immigrants from sub‐Saharan Africa), schistosomiasis and filariasis (in West Africans), and cysticercosis and Chagas’ disease (in Latin Americans).