Seungmi Yang
Dec 20, 2024, 17:30-19:00
Room 301, Building 10, Sophia University
In person only / No registration required
Immigrants are often considered healthier than native-born populations, a phenomenon known as the “healthy immigrant effect”. However, immigrants face multiple barriers in accessing healthcare services irrespective of their health status upon arrival. These challenges include cultural and language barriers, lack of familiarity with the health care system, and limited socioeconomic resources. Moreover, immigrants originate from a wide range of countries with diverse background and have distinct migration pathways, which also affect those challenges. Limited health care access and inadequate health care among immigrant populations have been observed in many developed countries, including Canada that has universal health care system and a long humanitarian history and immigration policies to enhance ethnocultural diversity. This talk examines differences in adverse birth outcomes and infant death rates not only between immigrants and the native-born parents but also among immigrant subgroups in Canada. By analyzing nationwide data on births and deaths, the study seeks to unpack distinct health experiences within immigrant population. These findings can help identify vulnerable immigrant subpopulations and inform programs to support and enhance immigrant health.
Seungmi Yang, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University. She is also a member of the University’s Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy, Centre on Population Dynamics, and Public Policy and Population Health Observatory. Her research focuses on understanding socioeconomic and ethnocultural health inequalities over the life course, long-term effects of early-life characteristics on health and development in later life, and impacts of policies on population health. Her research has been supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
This talk is organized by Ilju Kim (Assistant Professor, FLA, Sophia University)