India Migration Report 2021

Book excerpt: India Migration Report 2021 presents a detailed study on the health of migrants. It highlights major healthcare challenges faced by migrant labourers, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced authorities, policymakers and many other stakeholders to turn their attention to healthcare delivery unlike ever before. Bringing to the fore the health status of the migrant population both before the pandemic and during the pandemic, the essays in this volume discuss • the ease of access of migrant labourers to primary healthcare services; • the safety challenges faced by migrant workers at their workplaces, their exposure to various physical and psychological health vulnerabilities, and prevalence of potentially malignant health disorders and mental health issues among migrant labourers; • gendered access to healthcare, gender-based violence at workplaces and the gender-related perceptions on topics such as employment, decision-making and general attitude; • the role of decentralization and local self-government institutions in enabling health systems to address health problems of migrants, government policies and programs aimed at providing welfare for return emigrants from the Gulf; • the vulnerabilities migrant workers have encountered across the Indian states during the pandemic, with regards to food insecurity and psychological distress, and the type of support they received from various stakeholders. The volume will be of interest to scholars and researchers of development studies, economics, demography, sociology and social anthropology, and migration and diaspora studies.