Since 1965 the foreign-born population of the United States has swelled from 9.6 million or 5 percent of the population to 45 million or 14 percent in 2015. Today, about one-quarter of the U.S. population consists of immigrants or the children of immigrants. Given the sizable representation of immigrants in the U.S. population, their health is a major influence on the health of the population as a whole. On average, immigrants are healthier than native-born Americans. Yet, immigrants also are subject to the systematic marginalization and discrimination that often lead to the creation of health disparities. To explore the link between immigration and health disparities, the Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity held a workshop in Oakland, California, on November 28, 2017. This summary of that workshop highlights the presentations and discussions of the workshop.

Immigration and health care are hotly debated and contentious issues. Policies that relate to both issues—to the health of newcomers—often reflect misimpressions about immigrants, and their impact on health care systems. Despite the fact that immigrants are typically younger and healthier than natives, and that many immigrants play a vital role as care-givers in their new lands, native citizens are often reluctant to extend basic health care to immigrants, choosing instead to let them suffer, to let them die prematurely, or to expedite their return to their home lands. Likewise, many nations turn against immigrants when epidemics such as Ebola strike, under the false belief that native populations can be kept well only if immigrants are kept out. In The Health of Newcomers, Patricia Illingworth and Wendy E. Parmet demonstrate how shortsighted and dangerous it is to craft health policy on the basis of ethnocentrism and xenophobia. Because health is a global public good and people benefit from the health of neighbor and stranger alike, it is in everyone’s interest to ensure the health of all. Drawing on rigorous legal and ethical arguments and empirical studies, as well as deeply personal stories of immigrant struggles, Illingworth and Parmet make the compelling case that global phenomena such as poverty, the medical brain drain, organ tourism, and climate change ought to inform the health policy we craft for newcomers and natives alike.

The adoption by WHO's Member States of the Global Code of Practice in the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, and the implementation of it by so many countries, represent two of the biggest steps in recent years towards solving the shortage of health-care workers around the world. The countries' response has been a momentous achievement. Now, a third big step is being taken with the publication of this book. It underlines WHO's unwavering commitment to supporting the implementation of the Code and provides a wide range of detailed examples from the countries themselves of how they are tackling the many complex issues involved. It provides not just numerous insights into progress but also gives other countries valuable guidance and recommendations on how they, too, can implement the Code. Countries are encouraged to learn from the shared experiences, domestic solutions and multi-lateral cooperation described in this book, and move ahead to support and advance the Code's aspirational principles. By doing so, they also strengthen the campaign towards Universal Health Care -- a campaign that requires innovative solutions to the health workforce shortage in order to be successful. The crux of the Code is the development of human resources for health through all aspects of education, improved retention and fair recruitment practices while encouraging technical collaboration and financial support. WHO is playing a leading role in these initiatives and stands ready to assist all its Member States in implementing the Code. We strongly recommend this book to health policy-makers and decision-takers in governments, nongovernmental organizations and other partners and stakeholders, including civil society. They will find it an indispensable guide to a better future for health-care personnel and the people they serve.

Here is the first comprehensive cross-disciplinary work to examine the current health situation of our immigrants, successfully integrating the vast literature of diverse fields -- epidemiology, health services research, anthropology, law, medicine, social work, health promotion, and bioethics -- to explore the richness and diversity of the immigrant population from a culturally-sensitive perspective. This unequalled resource examines methodological issues, issues in clinical care and research, health and disease in specific immigrant populations, patterns of specific diseases in immigrant groups in the US, and conclusive insight towards the future. Complete with 73 illustrations, this singular book is the blueprint for where we must go in the future.

In their later years, Americans of different racial and ethnic backgrounds are not in equally good-or equally poor-health. There is wide variation, but on average older Whites are healthier than older Blacks and tend to outlive them. But Whites tend to be in poorer health than Hispanics and Asian Americans. This volume documents the differentials and considers possible explanations. Selection processes play a role: selective migration, for instance, or selective survival to advanced ages. Health differentials originate early in life, possibly even before birth, and are affected by events and experiences throughout the life course. Differences in socioeconomic status, risk behavior, social relations, and health care all play a role. Separate chapters consider the contribution of such factors and the biopsychosocial mechanisms that link them to health. This volume provides the empirical evidence for the research agenda provided in the separate report of the Panel on Race, Ethnicity, and Health in Later Life.

This pioneering volume represents the culmination of state-of-the-art research whose purpose was to investigate the relationship between health care and immigration in the USA - two broken systems in need of reform. This volume sets out to answer the question: how do medical institutions address the needs of individuals and families who are poor, lacking English fluency, and often devoid of legal documents? The book provides an examination of the challenges faced by institutions aiming to serve impoverished people and communities desperately in need of help. It represents a comprehensive portrayal of two institutional arrangements affecting the lives of millions on a daily basis. Health Care and Immigration offers accounts of the alternative paths used by immigrants to bypass dominant health-care organizations, and regional variations in health-care; the evolution and character of health-care legislation; factors explaining the persistence of altruistic institutions in a market economy, as well as the parts played by local legislation and social networks; and changes resulting from migration that affect the health of immigrants. This volume will be an invaluable resource for academics, researchers and students, as well as public officials addressing the health care needs of disadvantaged groups. This book was originally published as a special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies.

We live in an age of constantly shifting populations, as immigrants and refugees seek a safe haven from war, famine and poverty. The healthcare of these dispossessed people is now a stark challenge not only in zones of conflict but in those wealthier countries that have offered sanctuary. The book is based on the authors' combined forty-plus years of work as clinicians and teachers in refugee and immigrant health. It is written with clinicians and students in mind and is thus practical, yet theory-based, so it can be used in the field and as a teaching text. It bridges physical health (highlighting infectious disease risks), mental health, and spiritual issues; and encompasses population-specific information on history of immigration, culture and social relations, communications, religions, pregnancy and childbirth, end-of-life issues, and health screening. It also details health beliefs and practices of 30 cultures from more than 40 countries.