Migrazioni, vulnerabilità e rischio-salute

Abstract

Vulnerability characterizes different social systems in different ways and these differences are shaped by many factors. These include, for example, the sensitivity of the human being to climate and environmental changes, as well as the ability of the population and the entire socio-economic system to respond and adapt to a new or sudden situation. In presenting and understanding the phenomenon of post-disaster migration, the concept of vulnerability represents a key notion. Furthermore, if the relationship between vulnerability and migration appears very strong, already at an intuitive level, this relationship is strengthened when it adds poverty and health risk. In fact, those who are poor certainly present a greater risk of exposure to various forms of vulnerability, also in relation to various types of harmful events. For example, considering the global coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19), they identify them as particularly at risk. Regardless of whether they have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict, violence, or disaster, millions of internally displaced people around the world who live in densely populated areas, are unable to isolate themselves and have no access to water, sanitation, and primary health care (IDMC, 2020) Furthermore, although it is still too early to fully assess the effects of this unprecedented crisis on migrants' lives, cases are already emerging where the pandemic is increasing the vulnerabilities of individuals and creating new ones. It is essential that scholars and policymakers deepen the association between vulnerability and migration in a global perspective since the climate-migration relationship is heterogeneous and critically depends on the differential vulnerability of places and populations. In this essay, therefore, we intend to highlight that also the climatic-environmental aspects, together with other variables, can play a role in determining important population movements.

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