Forced Migration and Health at Columbia Public Health

03/17/2022

"There are no excuses for this.” In a new article from Wired, our very own Professor Sara Casey weighs in on the need to provide reproductive health care, alongside other essential health services, during the humanitarian response in Ukraine.

Russia's invasion is making it harder to deliver babies and provide birth control, abortion services, and other essential care.

03/10/2022

Our very own Director Monette Zard, professor with Columbia Public Health Dept. of Population and Family Health, shares her insights into the forced displacement situation in Ukraine and neighboring countries, reflecting on current events, the challenges ahead, and what lessons can be drawn from the crisis.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, at least 2 million people have fled the country, creating the largest and fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. Monette Zard, director of the Program on Forced Migration and Health, says neighboring countries have largely welcomed...

01/28/2022

In a new letter to the directors of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, & Centers For Disease Control (CDC), we express our strong support for the provision of COVID-19 vaccines to those seeking asylum at the border - but also our concern that vaccination not be used to further block asylum seekers.

Read the letter here: bit.ly/jan-2022-letter

01/20/2022

Attorneys are back in court challenging Title 42 expulsions. "At Wednesday's hearing, the panel of judges raised several questions about the stated public health rationale of the expulsions."

Our experts have repeatedly called on the Biden admin to end its use of Title 42, which politically exploits the COVID-19 pandemic to expel, block, and return to danger asylum seekers and individuals seeking protection.

Under President Biden, U.S. border officials have used a pandemic-related order put in place by the Trump administration to expel migrants over 1 million times.

01/14/2022

Today, PFMH faculty and partners are reiterating calls to end Title 42. One year into the Biden Administration and two years into the pandemic, Title 42 "continues to politically exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to expel, block, and return to danger asylum seekers and individuals seeking protection."

bit.ly/press-release-title42

01/11/2022

Powerful piece in The New Humanitarian by Dr. William Bruno grapples with ethical dilemmas in Myanmar and the U.S.

Dr. Bruno is a Global Emergency Medicine Fellow at Columbia University Irving Medical Center & Public Health and Humanitarian Action student in the Columbia University Department of Epidemiology, Columbia Public Health.

I’ve helped to save lives, but my work is also vital to a dehumanising and unjust system: mass incarceration.

12/08/2021

Reminder to join us this morning at 9 AM ET for a virtual panel event marking the launch of a Knowledge Brief on providing health care for Venezuelan migrants in Colombia.

🔗 Register at bit.ly/register-dec-8th-event

The event will include a panel discussion, featuring:
➡Pamina Firchow, PhD, Brandeis University
➡Diana M. Bowser, ScD, Brandeis University
➡Tatiana Andia, PhD, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
➡Thomas Bossert, PhD, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
➡Diana Valero, MSc, Ministry of Health and Social Protection, Colombia

Simultaneous English-Spanish translation will be available.

This event is presented by our partners Escuela de Gobierno and Brandeis University and supported by World Bank, UK Aid, and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

12/07/2021

New article from New York Magazine walks through how the Biden admin’s continued use of Title 42 is about political expediency, not public health. Our very own Katherine McCann, Senior Program Officer, weighs in: “We’re really seeing this political reflex to close borders to try to avoid being seen as not reacting quickly enough.”

At the border, the administration continues to lean on Title 42 to expel migrants based on a public-health pretext that ex-CDC officials say is bogus.

12/06/2021

Join us on Wednesday, December 8th at 9 AM ET for a virtual panel event marking the launch of a Knowledge Brief on providing health care for Venezuelan migrants in Colombia.

🔗 Register at bit.ly/register-dec-8th-event

The event will include a panel discussion, featuring:
➡Pamina Firchow, PhD, Brandeis University
➡Diana M. Bowser, ScD, Brandeis University
➡Tatiana Andia, PhD, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
➡Thomas Bossert, PhD, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
➡Diana Valero, MSc, Ministry of Health and Social Protection, Colombia

Simultaneous English-Spanish translation will be available.

This event is presented by our partners Escuela de Gobierno and Brandeis University and supported by World Bank, UK Aid, and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

12/03/2021

New article from CBS News unpacks the lack of COVID-19 vaccines for migrants processed by the U.S. this year. Per Megan Coffee, PFMH professor and infectious disease physician, "For the benefit of migrants, for the benefit of communities in home countries and the U.S., we want to increase vaccination."

Two agencies have provided coronavirus vaccination to more than 90,000 migrants in U.S. custody, according to data obtained by CBS News. But Border Patrol has yet to offer shots.

11/03/2021

We were so glad to gather with our Public Health and Humanitarian Action certificate students for a fall lunch on Haven Plaza today! 🍂🍁

10/27/2021

We are pleased to announce the release of a series of essays on human mobility and human rights in the COVID-19 pandemic, available at bit.ly/cilj-essays. The series, published today by the Cornell International Law Journal, includes contributions from Monette Zard and Joanne Csete in the Columbia Public Health Dept. of Population and Family Health.

The series builds on our 2020 collaboration with the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility and Cornell Law School to convene a group of experts to produce the 14 Principles of Protection for Migrants, Refugees, and Other Displaced Persons, available at bit.ly/14-principles.