Key points
- Understanding the mobility (movement) patterns and other factors affecting the health of immigrants, migrants, refugees, and travelers is essential to preventing the spread of infectious diseases and other public health threats within and across international borders.
- CDC works with international and domestic partners to detect and prevent the spread of infectious diseases and other public health threats related to border health and migration.
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Terms to know
Migration is the movement of people for different reasons from where they usually live to another place within a country or across an international border.
Border health focuses on populations moving across borders within and between countries, and the communities they are in before, during, and after travel. It also includes closely connected communities on both sides of an international border. The aim of border health is to limit the geographic spread of health threats.
What CDC is doing
CDC experts work in the United States and abroad to apply the best science to protect people from the international spread of infectious diseases. Working with government and non-government partners globally, CDC helps develop public health capacity in border areas and at points of entry (POEs), including international airports, ports, and ground crossings. This technical assistance also helps build capacities in national or regional public health systems to better address mobile populations.
Additionally, CDC collaborates with health officials in the United States and Mexico at local, state, and federal levels to:
- Prevent, detect, and limit the spread of infectious diseases across the U.S-Mexico border.
- Protect the health of people living in the United States-Mexico border region and other cross-border mobile communities.
- Improve and promote the health of travelers, migrants, and other populations moving between the U.S. and Mexico.