San Diego State University
Graduate School of Public Health
Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Public Health 700A: Seminar Migrant Health Issues (3.0 units)
Fall, 2010
SYLLABUS
(Subject to change)
Instructor: Alfonso Rodriguez, Ph.D, DVM, MPVM
E-mail: jqi3@cdc.gov
Office Phone: (619) 692-8406
Cell phone: (619) 241-3389
Office Hours: After class or by appointment
Place:
Time:
HH-128
Wednesday, 4-6:40 PM
OVERVIEW
The world is on the move! Every year, millions of people live their countries of origin to look for a better life or to escape violence or natural disasters. Migration is considered one of the main driven forces in the globalization of health issues. The goal of this course is to strengthen student’s knowledge and understanding of health issues of migrants and the effects that international migration has on the health of communities in the countries of origin, transit and destination. Students will learn appropriate methodologies to assess the health status of populations who migrate across international borders, such as economic migrants and refugees. Also, we will explore successful public health intervention programs targeting those populations. Many health issues and interventions for migrants are also relevant to other minority and multicultural populations in the U.S. Beside lectures, there will be video screenings and discussions on migration topics. There will also be guest presentations by experts in different migrant health issues.
Prerequisites: Public Health 601, 602 and 603.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. Describe the historic and current trends in international and U.S migration and its impact in the health of communities in sending, transit and receiving countries;
2. Recognize priority health issues for migrants and appropriate interventions to address them;
3. Describe study designs for health research involving migrant populations;
4. Identify major sources of data on international migration and migrant health;
5. Recognize the roles and responsibilities of agencies working on migrant health
6. Conduct a systematic literature review about a migrant health issue; and
7. Organize and deliver a clear and concise oral presentation summarizing the results of the literature review.
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GRADING POLICY
Basis of Grade:
Class participation 10% (10 points)
In-Class Quizzes 20% (20 points)
Oral presentation 70% (70 points)
Grading standards and interpretation of grades :
A = 93-100% (Superior)
A- = 89-92%
B+ = 84-88%
B = 79-83% (Adequate)
B- = 74-78%
C = 60-73% (Less than adequate)
F = <60 (Failure)
COURSE ORGANIZATION AND REQUIREMENTS
Class time will consist of lectures, guest presentations, short quizzes, informal discussions of readings and in-class videos and student presentations. In addition, there will be a field visit to a local community clinic that serves immigrants.
Class Participation (10%) : Students are fully expected to become familiar with the weekly readings, to prepare questions and comments to share with other seminar participants, and to actively participate in discussions. Your attendance at each class is also fully expected.
In-Class Quizzes (20%) : Short quizzes will take place at the beginning of class.
Questions will be related to the week’s required readings.
Oral Presentation (70%) :
1) Topic selection:

By 9/15/2010 , email the instructor 3 specific migrant health issues you are interested in (if you cannot think of any topic, the instructor can provide some suggestions).
 E.g., cervical cancer, smoking behavior, domestic violence
(Note: Avoid selecting very broad health topics such as cancer or substance abuse)

The instructor will assign one of the preferred topics to each student
2) Literature review on the topic;
Select at least 3 good references on your health topic. References must be:
• Relevant to migrant populations (Note: do not include studies or reports on race/ethnic or non-migrant minority groups)
• Current (although could include historic data to look at trends)
• Appropriate study methodology (e.g., definitions, sample design, adequate sample size)
• References have to be different than the required readings for the course
3) 30-minutes PowerPoint oral presentation . Student’s presentations will take place at the end of the semester. The order of the presentations will be randomly assigned by the instructor.
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IMPORTANT : All final Powerpoint presentations must be sent by email to the instructor or posted on Blackboard by 11/22/2010 at 5:00PM.
4) Presentation sections: The presentation must include the following sections: i. Introduction : background information about the health issue and how it affects migrant populations ii. Study population : Describe the specific migrant population(s) in the papers iii. Summary Results and/or Best practices : a. Summary results: report only the main findings from the studies b. Best practices: provide a description of the best practice(s) iv. Conclusions : What are main overall conclusions of your literature review? v. Discussion : Short critique of the strengths and weaknesses of the papers. For e.g., Have the target population been clearly defined? What are the study limitations? Do you agree with the conclusions? What are some of the strengths and limitations of the best practices proposed? What would you recommend as next steps? vi. References : For best practices, could also include other useful resources, such as references to more extensive guideline documents, software, websites with additional information.

Oral presentations will be graded by the instructor based on:
1) Overall content, 2) quality of literature review, 3) relevance of data (i.e., specific to migrants), 4) quality of slides, 5) quality of delivery, and 6) compliance with time allocation.
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Week 1
(9/01)
Week 2
(9/08)
Week 3
(9/15)
Week 4
(9/22)
COURSE OUTLINE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
Introduction to the Course
Overview of International Migration (Part 1): Worldwide
Overview of International Migration (Part 2) : Causes and U.S migration
Video : “Dying to Leave”: Discussion
Readings: 1. Philip Martin and Gottfried Zürcher, “Managing Migration: The Global
Chal lenge” Population Bulletin 63, no.1 (2008). http://www.prb.org/bulletins/63.1migration.pdf
2. Philip Martin and Elizabeth Midgley, “Immigration in America 2010,” Population Bulletin
Update (June 2010). http://www.prb.org/Publications/PopulationBulletins/2010/immigrationupdate1.aspx
Overview of Health Issues Related to Migration
Readings: 1. Gushulak BD, Weekers J, MacPherson DW. Migrants in a globalized world – health threats risks and challenges: an evidence-based framework. Emerging Health threats Journal 2009, 2:e10 http://www.eht-forum.org/ehtj/journal/v2/pdf/ehtj09010a.pdf
2. Cunningham SA. et al. Health of foreign-born people in the United States: a review.
Health & Place. 2008 Dec;14(4):623-35.
Sources of Data on Migration and Health
Readings: 1 Batalova J, Mittlestadt M, Mather M, Lee M. 2008. Immigration: Data matters.
Washington, DC. Migration Policy Institute and Population Reference Bureau. http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/2008DataGuide.pdf
2. Center for Global Development. Commission on International Migration Data for
Development Research and Policy (2009) Migrants Count Five Steps Toward Better
Migration Data. http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1422146/
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Week 5
(9/29)
Week 6
(10/06)
Week 7
(10/13)
Week 8
(10/20)
Week 9
(10/27)
Organizations Working on Migrant Health
(Guest Speaker: Liliana Osorio, Health Initiative of the Americas)
Readings (Optional) 1. Handout
International and U.S Agencies Working on Migrant
Health ” (Posted on Course Blackboard)
Migration and Infectious Diseases
NOTE (TBC): class time and location: at 4:00PM, Hardy Tower 183
Readings
1. Truman BI, Tinker T, Vaughan E, et al. Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response
Among Immigrants and Refugees. American Journal of Public Health Supplement 2, 2009,
Vol 99, No. S2:S278-S286.
2. Cain KP; Benoit S.R; Winston C.A; et al. Tuberculosis Among Foreign-Born Persons in the United States. JAMA . 2008;300(4):405-412
3. UNAIDS. Population Mobility and AIDS. UNAIDS Technical Update, February 2001. http://img.thebody.com/unaids/2001/population_mobility.pdf
Studying Migrant Populations (Part 1): Cluster Sampling and Oversampling
Readings : 1.
Andresen EM, et al.
Public health surveillance of low-frequency populations.
Annu Rev Public Health. 2004;25:25-52.
Studying Migrant Populations (Part 2): Time-Space Sampling and Respondent
Driven Sampling
Readings: 1. Magnani R. et al. Review of sampling hard-to-reach and hidden populations for HIV surveillance . AIDS 2005, 19 (suppl 2) : S67-S72 http://www.respondentdrivensampling.org/reports/AIDS_2005.pdf
Immigrants access to health care in the U.S
Readings: 1. Derose KP, Escarce JJ, Lurie N.
Immigrants And Health Care: Sources Of
Vulnerability. Health Affairs 2007;26(5):1258-1268
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Week 10
(11/03)
Health risks associated with migrants smuggling and trafficking (Guest Speaker:
Marisa Ugarte, Safety Border Coalition)
Readings: 1.
Roby JL, Turley J and Cloward JG (2008). U.S. Response to Human
Trafficking: Is it enough?, Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 6: 4, 508-525. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a906947691~db=all~jumptype=rss
2. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. An Introduction to Human Trafficking:
Vulnerability, Impact and Action. (2008); Pages 81-88 and 120-128 http://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/Marika-
Misc/An%20Introduction%20to%20Human%20Trafficking%20-
%20Vulnerablity,%20Impact%20and%20Action.pdf
Week 11
(11/10)
Occupational Health
Video: “Migrant Health: 30 years”; Discussion
Week 12
(11/17)
Refugee health (Visit to La Maestra Community Health Clinic)
1. Roberts B. Forced Migration Online Thematic Guide: Forced Migration and Public Health. http://www.forcedmigration.org/guides/fmo030/fmo030.pdf
Week 13
(11/24)
Week 14
(12/01)
Week 15
(12/08)
Readings: 1. Ahonen EQ, Benavides FG, Benach J. Immigrant populations, work and health —a systematic literature review. J Scand J Work Environ Health 2007;33(2):96-104
2. Schenker MB . A global perspective of migration and occupational health .
Am J Ind Med.
2010 Mar 1:1-8
3. D. Villarejo et al. Suffering in Silence: A Report on the Health of California’s Agricultural
Workers, 2000. Available at: http://www.cirsinc.org/Documents/Pub1100.2.PDF
Students presentations
Students presentations
Students presentations
Week 16
(12/15)
Students presentations
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