Cohort Profile: Internal Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa-The Migration and Health in Malawi (MHM) Study

Overview

Journal BMJ Open

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2017 May 19

PMID 28515195

Citations 11

Authors

Philip Anglewicz

Mark VanLandingham

Lucinda Manda-Taylor

Hans-Peter Kohler

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Purpose: The Migration and Health in Malawi (MHM) study focuses on a key challenge in migration research: although it has long been established that migration and health are closely linked, identifying the effect of migration on various health outcomes is complicated by methodological challenges. The MHM study uses a longitudinal panel premigration and postmigration study design (with a non-migrant comparison group) to measure and/or control for important characteristics that affect both migration and health outcomes.

Participants: Data are available for two waves. The MHM interviewed 398 of 715 migrants in 2007 (55.7%) and 722 of 1013 in 2013 (71.3%); as well as 604 of 751 (80.4%) for a non-migrant reference group in 2013. The total interviewed sample size for the MHM in both waves is 1809. These data include extensive information on lifetime migration, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, sexual behaviours, marriage, household/family structure, social networks and social capital, HIV/AIDS biomarkers and other dimensions of health.

Findings To Date: Our result for the relationship between migration and health differs by health measure and analytic approach. Migrants in Malawi have a significantly higher HIV prevalence than non-migrants, which is primarily due to the selection of HIV-positive individuals into migration. We find evidence for health selection; physically healthier men and women are more likely to move, partly because migration selects younger individuals. However, we do not find differences in physical or mental health between migrants and non-migrants after moving.

Future Plans: We are preparing a third round of data collection for these (and any new) migrants, which will take place in 2018. This cohort will be used to examine the effect of migration on various health measures and behaviours, including general mental and physical health, smoking and alcohol use, access to and use of health services and use of antiretroviral therapy.

Citing Articles

Internal migration and depressive symptoms: exploring selection and outcomes in a South African cohort.

Ginsburg C, Myroniuk T, Pheiffer C, Moffett B, White M SSM Ment Health. 2024; 6.

PMID: 39668849 PMC: 11637342. DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100330.

"Emotional stress is more detrimental than the virus itself": A qualitative study to understand HIV testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use among internal migrant men in South Africa.

Nardell M, Govathson-Mandimika C, Garnier S, Watts A, Babalola D, Ngcobo N J Int AIDS Soc. 2024; 27(3):e26225.

PMID: 38462755 PMC: 10935710. DOI: 10.1002/jia2.26225.

Association of migration and family planning use among women in Malawi: Evidence from 2019/2020 Malawi Multiple Indicators Survey.

Moyo R, Nkhoma D Contracept Reprod Med. 2023; 8(1):52.

PMID: 37891691 PMC: 10604777. DOI: 10.1186/s40834-023-00254-8.

Implications of rapid population growth on survey design and HIV estimates in the Rakai Community Cohort Study (RCCS), Uganda.

Khalifa A, Ssekubugu R, Lessler J, Wawer M, Santelli J, Hoffman S BMJ Open. 2023; 13(7):e071108.

PMID: 37495389 PMC: 10373715. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-071108.

The impact of the caregiver mobility on child HIV care in the Manhiça District, Southern Mozambique: A clinical based study.

Nhampossa T, Fernandez-Luis S, Fuente-Soro L, Bernardo E, Nhacolo A, Augusto O PLoS One. 2021; 16(12):e0261356.

PMID: 34914769 PMC: 8675651. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261356.

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