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Oscillating migration and the epidemics of silicosis, tuberculosis, and HIV infection in South African gold miners
Author(s) -
Rees David,
Murray Jill,
Nelson Gill,
Sonnenberg Pam
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.20716
Subject(s) - tuberculosis , silicosis , medicine , immigration , politics , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , gold mining , work (physics) , economic growth , migrant workers , development economics , environmental health , immunology , political science , law , pathology , mechanical engineering , chemistry , economics , engineering
Background Hundreds of thousands of men from rural areas of South Africa and neighboring countries have come to seek work in the gold mines. They are not immigrants in the usual sense as they work for periods in the mines, go home, and then return. This is termed oscillating or circular migration. Today we have serious interrelated epidemics of silicosis, tuberculosis, and HIV infection in the gold mining industry. Methods This article discusses the role of oscillating migration in fuelling these epidemics, by examining the historical, political, social, and economic contexts of these diseases. Results The impact of silicosis, tuberculosis, and HIV infection extends beyond individual miners to their families and communities. Conclusion Failure to control dust and tuberculosis has resulted in serious consequences decades later. The economic and political migrant labor system provided the foundations for the epidemics seen in southern Africa today. Am. J. Ind. Med. 53:398–404, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.