South-South Migration and Health Systems
El Latin American Council of Social Sciences from its Working Group “International health and health sovereignty“launched the new TRANS-WELL Research Consortium in 2026”South-South Migration and Health Systems«, which develops a research network on “human mobility and public health” among researchers and institutions in Mozambique (Africa), Myanmar/Thailand (Asia), Dominican Republic/Haiti (Caribbean), Germany and Switzerland.
This research consortium is promoted by the Institute of Geography, University of Erlangen-Nuernberg (FAU, Germany) in a general coordination associated with CLACSO, the Swiss Institute of Public Health, the Manhiça Health Research Center (CISM, Mozambique) and the School of Public Policy of Chiang Mai University (CMUSPP, Thailand).
From the CLACSO regional group on international health, with a long history of work in the Dominican Republic/Haiti, the principal investigator of this TRANS-WELL Consortium is Professor Dr. Gonzalo Basile with a team of Dominican and Haitian researchers such as Dr. Josvane Japa Rodríguez, Mgter. Elena Lorac, Dr. Renaud Francois, Dr. Prasedez Polanco and Dr. Ricardo Elías Melgen, and also the participation of territorial organizations such as COSALUP (Popular Health Council), MOSCTHA (Sociocultural Movement of Haitian Workers) and Doctors of the World.
The Consortium has the outstanding participation of FAU (Germany) of Prof. Dr. Fred Krüger -principal investigator-, Prof. Dr. Axel Drescher and Dr. Julia Kieslinger; Dr. Herminio Cossa from the Centre for Health Research of Manhica (CISM, Mozambique), Dr. Astrid Knoblauch from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH, Switzerland), Prof. Dr. Pobsook Chamchong from CMU-SPP of Chiang Mai University (Thailand), among others.
The TRANS-WELL research team explores and studies the complex interrelationships and determinants between South-South migrations, the cartographies of human (im)mobility and public health, especially in the responses of public health systems in critical contexts of socio-economic crises, violence, climate and socio-environmental changes that impact communities, families and people who migrate.
The research consortium between 2026-2030 is based on an empirical study of multiple environments from the prioritized geographies and territories, with the general operational objectives of:
1. Understand the preconditions, strengths and weaknesses of public health services and systems for both people on the move and residents in various marginalized and conflict environments, especially with reference to South-South cross-border migration and internal displacement;
2. Break down current (im)mobility-health ecosystems in different settings, taking into account policies and drivers, key actors, their roles, strategies and practices;
3. Promote the understanding and operationalization of the conceptualizations of a wellness ecosystem and an “epistemology of Health from the South” beyond the sectoral, militarized, securitized and biomedicalized approaches to global health in the Global North in order to uncover power asymmetries in different actors and institutional environments and overcome barriers in the pathways of public health systems.
With key questions such as: a) What are the conditions and processes that promote or hinder the development of innovative solutions for a reconfiguration of health policies and systems at the intersection of (im)mobility and public health?; b) What solutions should be devised and how can they contribute to Health Sovereignty and to the planning and transformation of health systems?; c) How can a “wellbeing ecosystem” approach, which ceases to “depend” on the legacies of functionalist, securitized, and biomedicalized practice, advance theoretical and methodological frameworks and significantly inform knowledge, the design of empathetic policies, and action at the nexus of human (im)mobilities and public health in the Global South?
For more information you can write to the CLACSO Working Group “International Health and Health Sovereignty” at[email protected] or by going to the website https://www.mobilitiesandhealth.org/
