Exploring Child Mortality Risks Associated with Diverse Patterns of Maternal Migration in Haiti

Abstract

Internal migration is a salient dimension of adulthood in Haiti, particularly among women. Despite the prevalence of migration in Haiti, it remains unknown whether Haitian women’s diverse patterns of migration influence their children’s health and survival. In this paper, we introduce the concept of lateral (i.e., rural-to-rural, urban-to-urban) versus nonlateral (i.e., rural-to-urban, urban-to-rural) migration to describe how some patterns of mothers’ internal migration may be associated with particularly high mortality among children. We use the 2006 Haitian Demographic and Health Survey to estimate a series of discrete-time hazard models among 7,409 rural children and 3,864 urban children. We find that, compared with their peers with nonmigrant mothers, children born to lateral migrants generally experience lower mortality whereas those born to nonlateral migrants generally experience higher mortality. Although there are important distinctions across Haiti’s rural and urban contexts, these associations remain net of socioeconomic factors, suggesting they are not entirely attributable to migrant selection. Considering the timing of maternal migration uncovers even more variation in the child health implications of maternal migration; however, the results counter the standard disruption and adaptation perspective. Although future work is needed to identify the processes underlying the differential risk of child mortality across lateral versus nonlateral migrants, the study demonstrates that looking beyond rural-to-urban migration and considering the timing of maternal migration can provide a fuller, more complex understanding of migration’s association with child health.

Maternal migration and child health: An analysis of disruption and adaptation processes in Benin

“…Additionally, the child health advantages associated with migration appear to accumulate as the duration of women’s residence in the destination community lengthens prior to their giving birth. This finding stands in contrast to recent evidence that some migrants in low-income countries live in unfavorable conditions that increase their children’s mortality risk as their duration of residence lengthens (Omariba and Boyle, 2010; Smith-Greenaway and Thomas, 2014). Of course, even though our study results suggest that women better secure immunizations for their children the longer they live in the destination community, this advantage may not translate into better physical health outcomes for children.…”

“…Because subsistence agriculture is a primary source of livelihood in Benin, environmental degradation is a prominent push factor (Doevenspeck, 2011). In addition to diverse motives, like other low-income countries, Benin’s migration patterns display notable diversity (Smith-Greenaway and Thomas, 2014). For instance, among the nearly 40 percent of Beninese women who report having migrated, approximately15 percent relocated from an international context, 19 percent between rural areas, 30 percent between urban areas, and 36 percent moved between rural and urban areas.…”

Urbanisation and differential vulnerability to coastal flooding among migrants and nonmigrants in Bangladesh

“…Limitations due to the sampling frame of BDHS and sensitivity analyses we conducted to address it (on individuals married 5 years prior to the survey) are discussed in more detail in the supporting information (Section 1.2). Despite this potential limitation, DHS surveys have been used in numerous studies on migrants' status‐related vulnerability in many settings (Bilsborrow & Henry, 2012; Bocquier et al, 2011; Omariba & Boyle, 2010; Smith‐Greenaway & Thomas, 2014).…”

“…Singh, Rai, and Singh (2012) show that even after controlling for household wealth, overall, migrant women are less likely to use maternal healthcare services in urban India compared with their nonmigrant counterparts and that migrants who are poor are least likely to use maternal healthcare services compared with their nonmigrant poor, nonpoor migrants, and nonpoor nonmigrant counterparts. Smith‐Greenaway and Thomas (2014) show that the migration status of women (particularly from rural to urban areas) is associated with higher mortality among children in Haiti. Yet, other studies that compare the impact of rural‐to‐urban migration on health outcomes in migrant families in various developing countries argue that some of the disadvantages/advantages observed among migrants are mostly attributable to selection of migrants (Bocquier, Madise, & Zulu, 2011; Omariba & Boyle, 2010).…”

Moving toward a Better Future? Migration and Children’s Health and Education

“…The results reveal that parental migration to urban areas and especially to large cities is signi-1 Some studies aim to address selection by controlling for or matching on parent or household characteristics observed after migration (e.g. Smith-Greenaway and Thomas, 2014;Stephenson et al, 2003;Escobal and Flores, 2009). Yet, this will reflect adaptation after relocating and thus mechanisms through which migration causally affects children.…”