H E A LT H I S S U E S O F
O U T B O U N D M I G R AT I O N
SRI LANKA’S HIGHEST FORIEGN EXCHANGE EARNER
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
Sri Lanka has seen the dramatic increase in the
employed overseas with an annual outflow of
numbers of men and women who travel abroad for
total of 266,445
PRE DEPARTURE
employment resulting more than tenfold increase of
2
labour migrants in the last two decades. While
MIGRANTS
REALITY VS
2
PERCEPTION
RETURNEES
2
outbound migration involves travel to a wide variety of
(SLBFE-2010)
pre-
the Persian Gulf that tend to offer attractive wages to
vailed about a decade ago has changed to one in
their foreign workforce.
which the ratio of males and females is equal.
concern
to
the
government
leading
to
policy
formulation.
underscored by the following statistical picture with
regard to the
The annual remittance to Sri Lanka from migrant
workers, of which 89% of who are housemaids (SLBFE
2010), is 5.1 billion US dollars in 2011 (SLCB,2011),
being the highest foreign exchange earner. An increase of revenue up to 7 billion US$ is expected by
2016 making labour
migration probably the big-
gest contributor to the national economy .
The need to address migrant health issues is
phenomenon of Sri Lankan labour
migration.
Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau, the
dedi-
cated government body for foreign
employ-
ment provide compulsory pre departure
training
program for certain categories of
migrants to
 19.7% of Sri Lanka’s work force is employed
ensure a safe migration process other than the career
overseas as labour migrants (Sri Lanka’s Labour
training . And it is compulsory for all outbound mi-
force 7.71 million in 2010, SLCB,2011)
grants for work purposes to
 currently there are 1.9 million Sri Lankans
 Sri Lanka had Bilateral agreements
with only few countries (5) and out
of which only 2 had provision ensuring health protection in them
females.
fem-
of all human and labour rights of migrants are a major
 93% of employees working abroad
are in Middle east countries (SLBFE
2010)
are
inization trend of labour migration that
manifesto, Mahinda Chinthana. Thus, the protection
 Annual remittance from foreign
employment is 4.65 Billion US$ in
2010
49.1%
As per present statistics in Sri Lanka, the
migration to the economy of the country in the political
 19.7%% of Sri Lankan work force
working abroad
and
outbound labour migrants are headed for countries of
emphasis on enhancing the benefits of labour
 10% (1.9 million) of Sri Lankan
population working abroad (SLBFE
2010)
males
destinations, a large proportion of Sri Lankan
The Sri Lankan government has placed particular
SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST:
 50.9%
register at SLBFE prior
to migration
NATIONAL STUDY ON OUTBOUND MIGRATION
Ministry of Health with IOM
commissioned a study on outbound labour migrant’s Health
issues in 2011. This national
study utilized both quantitative
and qualitative methods to study
the health status of pre departure
and returnee migrants and its
association with migration.
A
cross sectional study design with
multi stage sampling was used.
First time pre departure / potential labour migrants – 1100 from
10 SLBFE training centres situated in Colombo, Kalutara, Chilaw,
bantota, Jaffna and
Mannar,
districts
proportionate to the
number of out-migrants for
2009.Of these 158 (14.4%) were
1st time trainees but had a history of migration without training
Returnee migrants -1150 majority
from Colombo, Kandy, Kalutara,
Galle, and Hambantota through
GN divisions. And others were
returnees visiting the offices of
Maritime Pvt. Ltd and pre
departure training centres who are
re migrating
Focus Group Discussions
testing centres in Colombo,
Instructors attached to SLBFE training centre in Colombo, Relatives
attending Family Day, Trainees at
SLBFE training centre
Key Informant Interviews
were conducted with, Personnel
from 2 NGOs, Instructors from
SLBFE training centre in
Colombo, Labour attaches and counsellors from 7 Sri Lankan missions,
Assistant MOH of Panadura, Additional Divisional Secretary of Bandaragama, Medical doctor working
in a receiving country
Page 2
HEALTH ISSUES OF OUT BOUND MIGRATION
POTENTIAL MIGRANTS—PRE DEPARTURE
 Females were higher in number
62%) than males in the study
sample
 Majority in the age group 25-29
years
 More than 70% of people in both
groups pre departure and
returnees had a education level
of grade 6-10
 Majority were Singhalese 58%
 There is a higher proportion of
Tamil people among the
pre departure migration group
than the returnees (25.4%, 5.9%)
 Majority (67.2%)were married
and 45% married for more than
10 years and 67% had children
 23% had one or more children
between the ages of 1 to 3 years
Perceptions pre– departure
 74.5% knew about the risk of
being ill due to hard work
 56.7% said they will inform the
employer as the first course of
action they would take if they
fall seriously ill while working
overseas
 33% had one or more children
per month
 37% of the respondents were in
of 4 to 6 years
 A higher number of
respondents abandoned by
spouse were among the pre
departure group (61.9%,
31.8%)
 Among pre departure group
42% had permanent own
housing, 81% having electricity
 63.8% of the pr departure
group was already employed at
the time of migration and 14%
were worked in garment
factories out of which 92.7%
were females
 Out of the 62.7% respondents
debt out of which 21.2 % stated
the reason for debt as for obtain
foreign employment
 89.3% of respondents stated that
the decision to go abroad was
taken by them alone
 12% of respondents stated that
the family members opposed the
decision
 78.8% said the reason for
migration as economic and
building house only 6% said to
educate the children
Only 29% have read the clauses
and conditions of the insurance
policy provided by the SLBFE
among the pre departure group
21% earned more than
Rs: 15,000 per month, 52%
had house hold member
earning more than Rs:10,000
Special Points of Interest
About two third of
returnee migrant workers
had not participated in
pre-departure training
programmes run by the
SLBFE
85.8% had their passport
kept by employer
52.6% had no friends
outside workplace
65% took more than 3
months to Adapt
17.5% said they
did not inform employer about  Not being given monthly or annual
illness due to fear of losing the
leave or given annual leave
job .However, of those who
without pay was 54.3%, 63.3%
informed 63.6% stated that
and 60.4% respectively
they had the support of the
employer during illness and
 males and females have sleep
42.7% that they had the support deprivation (less than 5 hours of
of friends
sleep per day)
experienced an Abusive
situation
50.3% were not allowed
to use the telephone at
workplace
44.6% were not allowed to
use own mobile phone
 Majority said they were aware of  96% took more than 3 months  Very
the food and climate
differences
to get adapted to the country
and food
 inability to adapt to the climate
The Reality
story of the returnees
Those who did not inform the
employer about illness , 60.5%
and food have been the main
reason for return of migrants
(36.7%) followed by illness
(27.8%)
high
proportions
of
respondents expressed their
satisfaction with the facilities
provided at their places of stay in
respect of
accommodation
(86%), safety (93%), cleanliness
(93%), toilets (96%), drinking
water(95%) and bedding (89%).
RETURNEES;PAINTS WITH A PALATE OF GREY
 Predominantly female, in age group 35-39, with
a low educational level.( 70% studied up to the
6-10 grades)
 75% were married and 75.1% had children and
majority of the children belonged to an older
age group of .10 years
 Only 1% were working in skilled category while
categories
 Higher percentage of females (79.1%) than
males (20.9%) worked till the completion of
2 years contract period
 Almost 60% were staying overseas 2 years or
respectively) and it was seen mainly in
unskilled labour (57.1%)
 18.8% of those who were hospitalized stated
that the employer had deducted the costs of
hospitalization from their wages
more
 Of those who were hospitalized for physical  Majority
injuries there were higher proportions of
were provided with ’Health
cards’ (a basic medical insurance scheme) .
Males more than females were provided