Washington D.C. 15 October 2024 (PAHO) – A report launched today by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) documents main challenges faced by migrants in the Darien region and calls on countries of the Americas to work together to strengthen disease surveillance and improve policies and programs to ensure migrant health.
The new report, Challenges in access to health for migrants transiting the Darien region, reveals that migrants face significant health challenges while transiting the vast jungle territory between the border of Colombia and Panama, including lack of access to emergency medical care, adverse environmental conditions, increased risk of violence and exploitation, and exposure to infectious diseases.
“In the Americas, millions of migrants continue to be disproportionately impacted by negative health outcomes due to a lack of access to health care and this is particularly the case in the dangerous Darien crossing,” PAHO Director, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa said.
“It is crucial that countries, partners and donors come together to address the number of variants that hinder timely access to care for migrant populations,” he added.
Over the past two years, migration across the Darien region has continued to increase, as populations traverse borders from south to central and, ultimately, North America. This is not only due to political and economic instability in Latin America and the Caribbean and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as impacted by conflict and hardships in other parts of the world.
In the first three months of 2024, more than 135,000 people transited this area, primarily from Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Peru and Venezuela, but also from Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, China and India, among other countries.
While migrants are particularly vulnerable to health issues, provoked by a lack of access to preventive care and medicines for pre-existing conditions, the harsh terrain of the Darien region also leaves them additionally exposed to extreme weather, wild animals and violence and exploitation.
The report shows that the levels of vulnerability of populations in transit has also increased in recent years due to an uptick in the numbers of migrants with disabilities, women traveling alone, pregnant women and women with children under the age of one, in addition to the numbers of unaccompanied children and adolescents.
A lack of health care along the route means that migrants frequently miss out on life-saving prenatal care, as well as care for chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and HIV. A lack of specialist services, including for sexual and reproductive health, and mental health conditions are also compounding poor health outcomes for migrants.
Lack of access to health services, sanitation, basic hygiene and safe drinking water, along with the consumption of unsafe and micronutrient-deficient street food and nights sleeping outside, have also increased the occurrence of skin lesions, respiratory infections and foodborne diseases in under-five years – the main cause of death in this age group in both countries.
To help address these issues, the report proposes six recommendations:
- Strengthen inter-country coordination and partnerships to ensure a more aligned, timely response to health situations;
- Improve access to health services for migrants in transit, as well as for host populations;
- Strengthen health surveillance and information management in line with the International Health Regulations (IHR);
- Strengthen institutional and community capacities to respond to address avoidable illness and death;
- Support countries in developing and strengthening policies, programs, and frameworks to address migrant health;
- Help create plans to promote preparedness, response and recovery in the context of a migrant health crisis.
PAHO continues to work with countries of the Americas to support the development of migration response plans to improve access to health for both migrant and local populations, as well as to improve health surveillance and to strengthen partnerships and networks.
The Organization is also working with host countries to implement health-promotion campaigns on issues related to dengue prevention, sexual and reproductive health, and other health topics, as well as on the development of campaigns to combat xenophobia, stigma and discrimination.
