We raise our voices for human rights.
Migration is an integral part of humanity’s history in our ever-changing world. With a global population rapidly approaching 7.9 billion and the impacts of climate change, politic instability, famine, and violence, millions of people find themselves without a location or community to call home. It is estimated that 3.5% of the world’s population, approximately 272 million people, are international migrants. Daily, families face the impossible decision of leaving their home, their culture, and much of their identity to embark on journeys to distant lands in order to secure health and safety from numerous threats.
As future healthcare providers, we can already see the tolls these expeditions take on the general health and wellbeing of a large portion of our patients. Access to basic necessities such as food and shelter become luxuries, language barriers prevent adequate communication of needs, and fear and anxiety in a foreign destination inhibits people from seeking care until the situation becomes dire. Addressing the dynamic needs, however large or small, of the diverse population within our communities is our ultimate aim.
This is our call to action!
Through outreach to the vulnerable migrant population traversing the USA/Mexico border, we endeavor to educate ourselves on the simple ways we can provide relief, but also share their stories in hopes that solutions can be developed which minimize their suffering. We must remember our compassion and humanity as political policy is drafted which directly influences whether millions of people live or die seeking asylum from terrible fates in their homelands. Together as a coalition of interprofessional public health students, workers and volunteers, we raise our voices against any action that diminishes human rights we believe should be available to all people in the 21st century.
Author: Jamie Piel