Search Results (465)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic triggered unprecedented mobility disruptions worldwide as governments imposed strict lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus. In India, prolonged restrictions severely affected economic activity, particularly for migrant workers, leading to a large-scale and unplanned exodus from urban employment centres to native places. This sudden population movement undermined containment efforts and contributed to the spatial diffusion of infections. Understanding evacuees’ behavioural responses during such crises is therefore critical for effective emergency logistics and evacuation planning. Methods: This study examines the determinants of transport mode and shelter choice decisions made by migrants during the COVID-19-induced evacuation in India. Using primary survey data, a multinomial logistic regression model is developed to analyze how socio-economic characteristics influence evacuees’ choices of travel mode and shelter type. Results: The results reveal significant heterogeneity in decision-making, highlighting the role of economic vulnerability and accessibility constraints in shaping evacuation behaviour. Conclusions: The findings offer actionable insights for policymakers and emergency planners to design inclusive evacuation strategies, improve crisis-responsive transportation planning, and enhance shelter provisioning in future pandemics or large-scale disruptions. The study contributes to the logistics and humanitarian operations literature by providing empirical evidence on evacuation behaviour under public health emergencies. Full article

This article investigates the housing precarity of EU migrant workers in the Dutch–German border region, focusing on the Venlo Greenport area. Drawing on documentary analysis, 28 interviews, field observations, and stakeholder engagement, it explores how local governance, market dynamics, and framing practices shape housing outcomes. While EU law guarantees free movement, housing remains excluded from the EU rights frameworks, leaving workers dependent on employer-linked or agency-controlled short-stay facilities. These arrangements—often overcrowded, surveilled, and formally temporary—become long-term solutions, producing what we term short-stay sedentarism: prolonged residence in housing designed to deny permanence. The study conceptualises the local “battleground” where municipalities, employers, housing providers, NGOs, and residents negotiate competing interests. Seven interpretive frames—nuisance/disorder, cowboys, human rights, NIMBY, shadow power, integration, and unwanted accumulation—structure these debates, legitimising certain strategies while obscuring structural deficiencies. Findings reveal that certification and enforcement, while intended to improve standards, often entrench precariousness by sustaining the short-stay model. Emerging integration-oriented policies signal a shift but remain fragile amid economic imperatives and spatial constraints. The paper argues that addressing housing precarity requires structural reforms: expanding access to regular housing, reducing employer dependency, and recognising migrant workers as long-term residents rather than temporary labour inputs. Full article

A growing body of research characterizes contemporary global neoliberal hegemony through the lens of racial capitalism—a framework that traces the connections between colonial exploitation, slavery, and the foundations of economic growth, linking these histories to the expanding migrant precariat across Western societies today. Largely unexplored is how gender influences job conditions, alternatives, and forms of collective organization among migrant workers at the bottom strata of the labor market. Using the case of Spain, a country whose immigration history is closely linked to the expansion of precarious labor markets, we conducted our research in Barcelona, a hub in terms of migrant labor, collective agency and migrants’ rights struggles. We apply an intersectional lens to compare job conditions and collective action strategies of female and male migrant workers in two sectors: domestic and construction work, respectively. Both are strongly gendered, ethnically stratified, and highly informal. Many of the workers live in a daily reality marked by racism and exploitation, and we find that while there are important gender-related differences shaping the workers’ alternatives and forms of collective agency, their shared condition as racialized, poor migrants entails more commonalities than differences in terms of the role they fill in a late capitalist economy and the alternatives they have for change. Full article

Migrant workers are a unique group under China’s urban–rural dual system, and improving their well-being is an intrinsic requirement for achieving common prosperity. In recent years, human–robot collaboration has come forth as a novel work paradigm. Comprehending the influence of human–robot collaboration on the well-being of migrant workers is a vital yet insufficiently investigated matter. With the conservation of resources theory as an analytical framework, this study empirically analyzes data from a two-stage survey of 382 migrant workers in Chinese manufacturing enterprises. The findings suggest that perceived human–robot collaboration can positively influence migrant workers’ well-being by facilitating perceived decent work, while also negatively affecting their well-being by increasing job replacement anxiety. Perceived organizational support plays a positive moderating role in two distinct aspects: on the one hand, the relationship between perceived human–robot collaboration and perceived decent work; on the other hand, the mediating effect through which perceived decent work connects perceived human–robot collaboration with the well-being of migrant workers. Conversely, perceived organizational support exerts a negative moderating effect on the association between perceived human–robot collaboration and job replacement anxiety, while job replacement anxiety functions as a mediator in the relationship linking perceived human–robot collaboration to migrant workers’ well-being. This study helps understand how human–robot collaboration in manufacturing enterprises affects the well-being of migrant workers. Full article

While return migrant workers (RMWs) are increasingly viewed as key to rural development, their specific impact on grain production remains ambiguous. Clarifying this role is critical to manage the dual nature of their reintegration—leveraging valuable resources and knowledge while addressing complex reintegration challenges—to ensure national food security and advance agricultural modernization. Drawing on data from the 2018 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), this study explicitly tests the hypothesis that migration experience significantly reduces the likelihood that RMW households engage in grain production. The empirical results from probit models support this hypothesis, and this finding is robust across multiple specifications. Further analysis shows that migration experience significantly reduces land cultivation scales—especially among larger producers—and increases land abandonment. Additionally, it inhibits technology adoption or invest in agricultural technology. These results suggest that migration experience may weaken, rather than enhance, RMWs’ commitment to grain production, challenging the policy expectation that they can lead agricultural transformation. The study calls for more nuanced policy interventions that account for the structural constraints facing RMW households and their limited contribution to large-scale, efficient grain farming. Full article

Background: This study aims to examine the level of awareness, attitudes (including stigma and discrimination), and behaviors related to tuberculosis among the population of the Republic of Kazakhstan to identify priorities for raising awareness and reducing stigma. Methods: The study interviewed 2400 people from six regions of Kazakhstan using stratified random sampling based on gender and age. Respondents were chosen from cities and villages, including RK citizens over 18 who could answer questions. Additionally, 400 people with HIV, 200 drug users, 200 internal migrants, and 500 health workers were interviewed. Recruitment was done through profile organizations and the snowball method, with all participants giving informed consent. Results: The study showed different levels of knowledge about tuberculosis (TB) in Kazakhstan. Radiography was the most commonly known detection method (71–91%). Awareness of sputum testing was highest among drug users (84%) and HIV patients (77%), but lower among internal migrants (39%). Internal migrants had the most uncertainty about TB tests (17%). Stigmatizing views of TB patients existed, with 28–38% believing most people reject them. Among healthcare workers, only 38. 8% correctly identified the G-Xpert test for TB and rifampicin resistance, and over one-third misunderstood the Mantoux test’s purpose. Conclusions: The findings show a need for focused educational efforts to boost TB awareness and lessen stigma, especially among internal migrants and the general public. Vulnerable groups, like PLHIV and PWUD, have higher awareness but still encounter major barriers. Improving healthcare workers’ knowledge about TB diagnostics is also crucial. Specific communication strategies and policies are needed to improve TB detection, reduce social stigma, and improve healthcare access for at-risk groups in Kazakhstan. Full article

Against the backdrop of rapid development in megacities, urban park green spaces serve as essential public resources whose accessibility and equity directly affect residents’ quality of life and broader social justice. This study addresses the imbalance between the spatial distribution of green space resources and the socio-demographic characteristics of different population groups in megacities. It takes the six central districts of Beijing as the study area and integrates data from 457 urban parks. The research applies the Gaussian two-step floating catchment area (G2SFCA) method and bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis (Moran’s I) to systematically evaluate the equity of urban park green space provision across multiple social dimensions, including economic status, educational attainment, and vulnerable groups. The results indicate that urban park green spaces in Beijing’s six central districts exhibit a pronounced central and northern advantage, with significant deficits in southern and peripheral areas. High accessibility and greater per capita green space are concentrated in core and high-housing-price districts, overlapping with high-income and highly educated populations. In contrast, vulnerable groups and migrant workers are more likely to reside in green-space-deficient areas, facing a structural “high population density–low green space provision” disadvantage, reflecting clear social inequities. In addition, inequity is more pronounced at the walking scale than at the cycling scale. The study reveals a dual mismatch in green space provision across both spatial and social dimensions within a megacity context. The findings suggest that future urban planning should shift from quantitative expansion to the optimization of existing green space resources. Planning strategies should prioritize vulnerable groups and adopt a people-oriented approach. Policymakers should allocate greater support to southern and peripheral areas, increase the provision of pocket parks, and improve slow-mobility systems. These measures can more precisely safeguard equitable access to green space for disadvantaged populations and promote the realization of spatial justice. Full article

Objective: This study evaluates the pre–post changes in dental knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors following a community health worker (CHW)-led intervention. Methods: Adult caregivers from migrant worker families living near the United States–Mexico border participated in the five-week, in-person, CHW-led intervention program. The two-hour once/week interactive sessions were held in Spanish and included oral health education, skill-building, and goal-setting. Participants completed pre- and post-surveys about dental knowledge, attitudes, skills, and oral hygiene behaviors (N = 117). Participants self-reported frequency of brushing and flossing in the prior week, which was dichotomized to reflect meeting the American Dental Association (ADA) guidelines of brushing twice/day and flossing once/day. Mean group comparisons and paired t-tests were conducted to assess pre- and post-intervention differences. Intervention feedback was also evaluated. Results: Pre-intervention, most adults met hygiene guidelines, and in the overall sample, there were no significant differences post-intervention. However, there were meaningful behavior change differences observed among subgroups not meeting ADA guidelines at baseline. Among the 32% of adults who did not meet ADA brushing guidelines and the 61% that did not meet ADA flossing guidelines at baseline, there were significant improvements post-intervention and increased weekly frequency for brushing (p < 0.001) and flossing (p < 0.001). Pre-intervention, 30% reported not being taught to properly brush or floss; post-intervention, only 3% reported not being taught this skill (p < 0.001). Knowledge (p < 0.001) and some attitudes, including self-efficacy (p < 0.001), significantly increased post-intervention. Program feedback from participants and CHWs was positive, and 81% of participants shared materials. Conclusions: After the CHW-led intervention, there were increases in the adults’ self-reported dental knowledge, some attitudes, and hygiene skills. Toothbrushing and flossing frequency increased post-intervention among the subgroups of adults that were not already meeting ADA guidelines at baseline. Full article

Background and Aims: Changes in hepatitis delta virus (HDV) epidemiology have been highlighted recently in the context of increasing worldwide migrations. The lack of comprehensive real-world data on HDV in the Valencia region highlights the need for a structured registry to accurately estimate disease prevalence and burden and to generate robust real-world evidence on clinical outcomes and therapeutic effectiveness. We aimed to better understand the barriers for successful HDV patient care in our region by establishing a registry as well as linking previously under-recognized or lost to follow-up (FU)cases to care. Methods: After a search of all possible HDV cases in a Spanish region, attempts were made (through letters and phone calls) to relink to care those lost to FU. Two approaches were undertaken: (i) search of the Microbiology Labs Database, and (ii) clinical chart review from adult patients attending the Hepatology or Infectious Disease (ID) Units outpatient clinics of the three participant hospitals between January 2011 and June 2021. Results: Only one third of anti-HDV positive patients without adequate clinical management could be successfully linked or re-linked to care, highlighting a substantial gap in follow-up. Among 243 HDV cases detected (7.5% of HBsAg-positive patients), 111 belonged to the hospitals’ health department, and after excluding deceased or transplanted individuals, the final study cohort consisted of 84 patients. Of these, 27.4% were adequately followed in Hepatology or Infectious Disease Clinics, 11.9% had been inadequately followed recently, 45.2% had been lost to follow-up for several years, and 15.5% had never been evaluated in outpatient clinics. Overall, only a third of the patients without adequate clinical management could be successfully linked/relinked to care. Conclusions: In our setting, only a minority of anti-HDV positive patients are adequately managed in specialized outpatient clinics, with unsuccessful attempts to link many patients to care, particularly among young migrant men. These findings underscore the need for alternative strategies, such as decentralized testing, reflex testing, and the involvement of patient navigators or social workers, to strengthen linkage to care and improve retention. Full article

Vulnerability to heat and cold is influenced by many characteristics. This study analyzed determinants of vulnerability at the district level in the whole of Austria. Daily deaths (1970–2020) and daily temperatures per district were entered into time series models using negative binomial General Additive Models controlling for long-term and seasonal trends and for the day of the week. District-wise effect estimates of 111 districts in total were entered into linear meta-regression models seeking determinants of inter-district variation in heat and cold vulnerability. Generally, temperature effects on the daily number of deaths were highly significant in all districts, with higher death rates occurring when the same-day temperature exceeded a clear threshold and higher death rates with declining temperature averaged over the previous 14 days, in that case not showing any clear threshold effect. A higher heat vulnerability was observed for more densely populated areas, especially for the city of Vienna, for districts with a higher percentage of singles, of homeless people, of unemployed, and of migrants. Surprisingly, a higher percentage of outdoor workers seemed to be protective. Higher cold vulnerability was found for an increasingly autochthonous population, for districts with a higher employment rate, with more commuters, more agricultural workers, and more green spaces. Full article

In recent years, the rapid construction of government-subsidized rental housing (GRH) has partially alleviated housing pressures caused by the growing number of migrant workers and persistently high rental costs in Shanghai. However, its overriding emphasis on construction and allocation efficiency neglects the realization of spatial justice, particularly in underdeveloped urban areas. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach to examine all 25 GRHs completed and operational in Shanghai’s Five New Towns, employing morphological characteristics and inherent differences to analyze their impacts on spatial justice. First, this study integrates urban functions and spatial justice elements to establish a systematic classification framework and an evaluative system for GRH, and then assesses the achievement of spatial justice across existing projects. Subsequently, morphological analysis is employed to examine how GRHs shape the socio-spatial context of new towns, thereby assessing their role in reinforcing or undermining spatial justice. Finally, this study establishes data logic between typological factors and morphological characteristics and analyzes the inherent differences among various types of GRH by using Fisher’s exact test. The results reveal that although the existing GRHs are situated in different urban geospatial contexts, they exhibit a severe homogenization phenomenon in terms of construction modality, planning layout, and community boundary, with only the residential scale showing inherent differences. The research findings highlight a systematic neglect of spatial justice in the current GRH development paradigm and reveal the underlying causes. This study contributes to the discourse on spatial justice in GRH development by broadening its dimensions, and it provides valuable insights for promoting the realization of spatial justice through multi-tiered policy framework, place-making design strategy, and a joint operation model. Full article

Since 2015, nearly 3 million Venezuelans have fled to Columbia, forced to leave their homeland by a multidimensional humanitarian crisis. Entering the Columbian labour market has become one of the key challenges facing these migrants. In the fragile socio-economic context of cities bordering Venezuela, finding employment is especially difficult. This study aimed to clarify the factors related to unemployment among Venezuelan immigrants in the border municipalities of Villa del Rosario, Los Patios and Cúcuta (Colombia). The target population included 122 Venezuelan migrants who reported being unemployed. The primary data was collected from July to October 2022. Using multiple correspondence analysis and positioning maps, we identified three different profiles that emerge among these unemployed immigrants. Profile 1 is characterised as young people with an education level ranging from primary school to high school and an occupational profile of mainly service workers and salespeople in commerce and markets. Profile 2, of greatest interest in this study, is characterised as mostly young women who received university education but have not managed to enter the labour market. Profile 3 is largely men aged 48 to 61 years and older, with medium technical and higher university-level education and an occupational profile of mostly technical and professional medium level. We conclude with several recommendations to promote formal labour integration among Venezuelan migrants. Full article

In the rapid development of rural tourism, multiple disturbances, such as capital reorganization, uneven resource distribution, and the marginalization of farmers as the main body, have emerged. This has led to the dual challenges of increased vulnerability and insufficient resilience of farmers’ livelihood systems in the face of risk shocks. Based on survey data of the “Agri-Tourism–Commerce–Culture Integration” demonstration zone in China, this study integrates the Pressure–State–Response model into the analysis of livelihood resilience and constructs a “vulnerability–adaptability–recuperability” tri-dimensional framework. Through methods such as the entropy weight method, the synthetical index method, grey relational degree analysis, and the obstacle degree model, this study measures the levels of different livelihood types of farmers in each dimension of livelihood resilience and their influencing factors. The research findings indicate that the overall livelihood resilience of farmers in the study area was at a medium level, with vulnerability making the most significant contribution, reflecting that the current livelihood system is dominated by risk resistance. Different types of farmers exhibit heterogeneity in resilience, with tourism-oriented farmers showing the highest resilience and agriculture-oriented farmers the lowest. However, tourism-oriented farmers also display the most prominent vulnerability, revealing the tension between short-term efficiency enhancement and long-term risk diversification in single livelihood strategies. Key factor analysis reveals that vulnerability correlates most strongly with livelihood resilience. The most correlated indicators are the price increase rate, proportion of migrant workers, and neighborhood trust in the vulnerability, adaptability, and recuperability dimensions. Diagnosis of obstacle factors reveal that loan accessibility, land resource dependency, and agricultural risk perception rank as the top three common obstacles, with tourism-driven farmers exhibiting higher obstacle degrees than other farmer categories. These findings not only validate the empowering effect of rural tourism on farmers’ livelihoods but also reveal the different livelihood strategies chosen by various farmers. Based on the results, this study proposes policy recommendations of “common optimization + individual adaptation” to enhance farmers’ livelihood resilience. This is conducive to transforming external support into farmers’ endogenous resilience capabilities and provides a useful reference for achieving the deep integration of rural tourism and farmers’ livelihood systems. Full article

Background: Climate change is intensifying extreme heat exposure in Mediterranean agricultural systems. Migrant workers engaged in outdoor fieldwork are a highly vulnerable population with limited access to resources. Crucially, there is a notable lack of data on how heat affects these workers in this specific region. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the physiological effects of high-temperature exposure by quantifying and correlating indirect indicators of dehydration and electrolyte imbalance (sodium and potassium losses, sweat, body weight, and blood pressure). Methods: An observational study was conducted over nine consecutive days involving ten agricultural participants, yielding 90 observations. Measurements of body weight, heart rate, blood pressure, skin temperature, sweat loss, and sodium and potassium concentrations were taken before, during, and after daily field activity. Results: Results showed considerable interindividual variability in thermophysiological responses. Participants lost an average of 0.8 kg (range –9.1 to +3.6 kg) and produced 3.91 L of sweat (range 1.9–6.4 L), with sodium and potassium losses of 4932 mg and 646 mg, respectively. Sweat loss correlated with sodium (r = 0.414, p = 0.001) and potassium (r = 0.791, p < 0.001), and diastolic blood pressure was moderately associated with weight loss (r = 0.576, p = 0.016). Conclusions: Sweat loss was the main driver of electrolyte depletion, with marked interindividual variability. Monitoring sweat-related indicators and diastolic blood pressure could help detect dehydration risk in agricultural workers exposed to extreme heat. Targeted hydration strategies and occupational health education are essential to mitigate these risks. Full article

Employment promotion and employment realization are the core and fundamental problems in the resettlement of land-expropriated farmers transferred to citizens. To solve this problem, it is necessary to clarify the key factors and mechanisms that affect the employment behavior of “farmers to citizens” workers. Taking the labor force from land-expropriated “farmers to citizens” in the construction of Beijing city sub-center as the research object, this paper utilizes Logistic ISM to determine the key factors affecting the employment behavior of the labor force when changing from rural to urban, as well as the internal logical relationship and hierarchical structure among the influencing factors. The results show that only 40% of the migrant workers in the sample have achieved employment, while 69% of the unemployed population have a willingness to work but are limited by age, skills, and family factors. The logistic regression model identifies that the employment behavior of land-expropriated farmers is significantly affected by 10 factors, including gender, age, work experience, hobbies, employment demand, expenditure change, employment difficulty cognition, government training, policy satisfaction and social security. Among them, ISM further reveals that these factors form a three-level hierarchical mechanism of “structure–cognition–behavior”; gender, social security and policy satisfaction are the deep-root factors, and the intermediate factors, such as hobbies and government training, affect employment demand, employment difficulty cognition and other surface factors, and ultimately affect the employment behavior of land-expropriated “farmers to citizens”. Based on this, it is proposed to start from four aspects: differentiated employment guidance, policy transmission optimization, service efficiency improvement, and industrial driving, to systematically promote the realization of more comprehensive and stable employment for the rural-to-residential population, and provide institutional guarantees and practical paths for their sustainable livelihoods. Full article