Study of health of migrants from East to Southern Africa launched
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A 15-year-old girl is assisted by IOM South Africa and another charitable organization
A study is being launched to analyze the health vulnerability of men, women and children migrating from East Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region to Southern Africa.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says the study will be conducted by Lawry Research Associates International and is expected to be completed by July 2013.
The IOM estimates that at least 40,000 people every year illegally migrate from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea to South Africa in search of work in cities such as Johannesburg or Cape Town.
IOM spokesman Jumbe Omari Jumbe says the results of the study will be shared with government officials in South Africa to better deal with the health of migrants.
"It is a human rights issue. Besides it is not in their interest to let sick people within their borders infecting other people. So we will sit with them and find ways of addressing this issue and, hopefully, we are aiming towards resolving issue of poor health, bad health, health vulnerability to the migrants." (Duration: 20")
