The challenge of establishing an evidence-based and migrant sensitive approach to tuberculosis screening of inbound migrants to Sri Lanka

Limited attention has been made by countries of ‘new immigration’ to define an immigration medical examination requirement of inbound migrant flows. Importation of TB through inbound migration routes have been a largely neglected strategy in TB control in Sri Lanka despite increasing migrant flows from endemic regions. We contend that establishing a health assessment for those long stay resident visa applicants to Sri Lanka may be useful in mitigating the spread of TB. However the approach should harness a ‘rights based’ approach to health assessment, and also be linked to the national health system. In this way the assessment becomes a vital mechanism for global public health good rather than be perceived as a tool for discrimination or immigration control. Migrants need to be included in national and global TB control strategies, especially since mobility is a key feature of the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals agenda.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljid.v4i2.6719

Sri Lankan Journal of Infectious Diseases 2014; Vol.4(2):67-76