Factors associated with self-rated health among migrant workers: results from a population-based cross-sectional study in Almaty, Kazakhstan

Abstract

ObjectivesTo determine factors associated with SRH among migrant workers in Almaty, Kazakhstan.MethodsIn 2007, 805 vendors were screened. Approximately half were eligible (n =450), defined as at least 18 years old, a worker/owner in a randomly selected stall, having traveled 2 + hours outside of Almaty within the past year, and being an internal/external migrant. 28 non-migrants were excluded, leaving 422 participants. Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between SRH, mental health, and psychosocial problems.ResultsApproximately 46% reported having poor or fair SRH. Clinical depression (OR 0.859, 95% CI 0.342–2.154), alcohol problems (OR 1.169, 95% CI 0.527–2.593), and legal status (OR 0.995, 95% CI 0.806–1.229) were not significantly associated with SRH, nor was exposure to interpersonal violence among women (OR 1.554, 95% CI 0.703–3.435). After adjusting for key variables, only ethnicity and social support were found to be significantly protective against poor or fair SRH.ConclusionsSRH was not a comprehensive health measure for these Central Asian migrant workers. More specific questions are needed to identify mental illness and interpersonal violence.

Mental Health and Related Factors among Migrants from Myanmar in Thailand

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Health Disparity between the Older Rural-to-Urban Migrant Workers and Their Rural Counterparts in China

“…Hong et al [13] examined health inequalities of older rural-to-urban migrant workers (aged 45-70) in three cities of China and found that the richer were at a disadvantage in health disparities. Wu et al [2] compared older rural-to-urban migrant workers (aged 50 and above) with the middle-aged rural-to-urban migrant workers (aged [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] and young rural-to-urban migrant workers (aged [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29], and reported that older rural-to-urban migrant workers' mental health was inferior to that of middle-aged rural-to-urban migrant workers and young rural-to-urban migrant workers. However, Hong and Wu did not compare the health status with rural counterparts.…”