Migration and Health in Malawi

Philip A. Anglewicz, Tulane University
Hans-Peter Kohler, University of Pennsylvania
Mark VanLandingham, Tulane University
Lucinda Manda-Taylor, College of Medicine, Malawi

Although it has long been established that migration and health status are closely linked, identifying the effect of migration on health remains an unresolved challenge for much migration research. This challenge has remained due primarily to data limitations, such as the inability to measure all characteristics that affect migration and health, or the lack of longitudinal data necessary to distinguish between the effect of migration on health and the selection of individuals of differing health status into migration streams. Furthermore, migration and health research has seldom focused on sub-Saharan Africa, despite the high and increasing rates of internal migration in SSA. This research examines these two gaps in research on the relationship between migration and health by (1) addressing several central methodological challenges that often preclude establishing a causal connection between migration and health, and (2) initiating a regional focus on SSA.