Immigrant Access to Health Care and Public Health: An International Perspective

This article considers the extent of international migration and associated concerns for the public health and advocates for an international perspective on the provision of health care to migrants. After discussing factors affecting the health of immigrants and exploring the role of public health, this article focuses on immigrant access to health care and specifically addresses the relationships between legal status, financial resources for health care, and access to care from such an international perspective. The author concludes that the failure to address immigrant health care in this larger international context ultimately impacts not only the individual immigrants, but their communities of origin and destination as well.