Migration is a widespread occurrence globally. In West Africa, around 33% of individuals have relocated from their birth villages. In Ghana, movement between regions significantly shapes residency patterns, with over half the population living outside their birthplaces. Studies reveal that the Greater Accra area draws the most migrants. Generally, people migrate from economically disadvantaged northern areas to the wealthier south in search of employment. Many migrants end up in impoverished neighborhoods in urban centers due to unaffordable housing in better areas. Living on society’s fringes exposes them to diseases like malaria, cholera, and typhoid due to poor conditions.
Traditionally, research assessing migrant health has focused on geography, sexual health issues, infectious and chronic disease burdens, environmental factors, wealth, income, and health determinants. Findings indicate rural migrants and residents in impoverished communities bear higher sexual health burdens and suffer from infectious and non-communicable diseases, leading to increased mortality and disability. Our study broadened the focus to understand disease patterns by examining lifestyle and social factors, including the duration of migrants’ stays, employment types, religious practices, and frequency of consuming street food. Our research suggests establishing a comprehensive policy framework to foster social networks, both formally and informally, at workplaces and social hubs can significantly aid migrants in managing their health.
Researchers have traditionally examined social factors for insights into migrants’ disease patterns and health status, including living and working conditions, family wealth, health literacy, education, employment, job autonomy, residence quality, ethnicity, and gender. Environmental factors also play a role, such as the quality of food, water, air, and soil. Diseases thrive where migrants live in degraded, overcrowded settings with poor sanitation. Overcrowding heightens the spread of respiratory diseases, worsened by reliance on charcoal and firewood for cooking. Social relationships are crucial; urbanization profoundly impacts them.
Traditional practices, like family cooking and sharing home-cooked meals, give way to consuming street food, elevating lifestyle diseases like cardiovascular conditions and related risks, such as obesity, high blood pressure, and diarrheal diseases like cholera. Social ties influence the support networks migrants have for accessing healthcare services. Our study assessed Jamestown, a poor Accra neighborhood, considering socio-demographic factors, personal habits, and migrants’ accessible resources through their social networks, all influencing their health. Migrants face numerous health challenges due to hazardous work conditions, poor living circumstances, and adjustments to new, unfamiliar settings. For instance, migrants who had resided longer in the neighborhood reported better health than recent arrivals. The nature of their jobs also impacted health; those in physically active roles like masonry, welding, and carpentry perceived better health compared to service workers like seamstresses, nurses, and drivers. Those in sales roles like trading, food vending, and fish mongering did not rate their health highly.
Migrants frequently buying food from vendors reported poorer health perceptions. The connection between poor migrants’ lifestyles and health in deprived urban areas and the role of social capital in this dynamic has been largely under-researched. Previous studies in Accra focused on health disparities due to spatial inequality show uneven disease distribution. However, our findings suggested that those who felt informed about navigating life successfully, including accessing healthcare in Jamestown, had a more positive health outlook. This aligns with earlier studies that highlight social capital on individual and interpersonal levels as vital for information exchange and health prediction. This study is significant for addressing health disparities in disadvantaged areas, emphasizing lifestyle contributions to health. It holds policy implications and can inform developing community health insurance, reinforcing health care systems, and strengthening communal and family support networks.
Presently, those lacking sufficient health information often turn to less effective, cheap herbal and unauthorized medicines, jeopardizing health and fostering drug resistance against diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, and obesity. Improving health facilities is crucial to provide migrants affordable access to services, as many currently have limited or no access. The research stresses the need for granular interventions. Strong policies are urgently needed to support informal health education, health literacy, and counseling for migrants and local populations. New policies should focus on promoting supportive social, familial, and community networks that enhance health information dissemination, including guidelines on healthy living, hygiene, and responsible sexual behavior.