These diseases included influenza and pneumonia. tuberculosis. and the infectious digestive diseases such as diarrhea and gastritis. and so forth. We have conquered most of these diseases through sanitation. better nutrition. and immunization. Yet today these are still the diseases which plague the migrant worker and his family. The Presidents Commission on Migratory Labor reported in 1951 that infant mortality. maternal mortality. dysentery. smallpox. and typhoid were far more prevalent among migatory workers than among the general population. More recent State and local surveys indicate that this situation has not improved in the last 10 years. Migrants usually work in rural counties or in remote areas where the services of public health nurses and doctors are not readily available. They live on the fringes of our communities. strangers to basic health services which the rest of us have accepted and known all our lives. They usually remain strangers because they do not have access to these health services. Sometimes it is simply because they have no means of transportation from a labor camp to a doctor or a health center. Again. since they are unaccustomed to regular health care. they may not use preventive health services. or take care of a medical problem in its early stages. because to do so would mean the loss of part of their meager earnings. It is also quite often impossible for communities to stretch their health services to meet the seasonal impact of migrant groups. Some communities have meager health resources even for permanent residents. Another part of the problem is that no single community or State feels that this is its problem alone.
Keywords matched
Migrants migrant