MCN Resources

We began in July with information about substance abuse among migrant workers. The current edition is Harm Reduction Strategies for HCV Substance Abusers. Potential substance abuse treatment sites and resources for migrants will follow in September.

In this edition, we offer resources and information about water and sanitation issues. Fecal-to-oral transmission, via contaminated water, food, or other objects, is the principal means of spreading HAV, the virus that causes Hepatitis A.

"Substance Use and Migrant Labor, Part One" The number of substances reported “ever used” by 127 farm workers in a study conducted in three southern states (Inscription in Drug Use among Farm Workers) ranged from one (17 persons) to ten/more (6 persons)

Our focus this month is treatment for Hepatitis B and C.

May is Hepatitis Awareness Month. In light of this, we're posting a special edition for the month of May. The Migrant Clinicians Network is happy to release the position paper "Hepatitis Screening, Immunization and Testing for Mobile Populations and Immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean." This paper clarifies standard hepatitis recommendations for these populations.

Maria Fernandez, 42, of Cancun, Mexico, sits outside a shoddy trailer she shares with other workers. "Everybody around here always has headaches, coughs, running noses," she said. "It has to do with that dust on the plants from the chemicals. You are always breathing it in."