Healthcare (im)mobilities and the Covid-19 pandemic: notes on returning to the field

Follis, L., Follis, K. and Burns, N. (2023) Healthcare (im)mobilities and the Covid-19 pandemic: notes on returning to the field. International Journal of Cultural Studies, (doi: 10.1177/13678779231173707) (PMCID:PMC10196676) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

This article proposes a mobilities-informed approach to social science research on healthcare and migration. It engages with evidence gathered during the Covid-19 pandemic that suggests that when confronted with a public health emergency, health systems can be responsive to the needs of mobile populations. During the Covid-19 lockdowns, health resources shifted routine services online, spurring an acceleration of telemedicine. The roll-out of these practices intersected with the phenomenon of digital exclusion, making healthcare partly or completely out of reach for those who could not connect. We argue that these efforts could have been more successful if they grew out of a recognition of healthcare's ‘sedentary bias’. National health systems are configured to serve settled populations. They are not designed for people on the move, with uncertain residential and immigration status. Yet this bias can be alleviated when health interventions are rethought from the point of view of the mobile patient.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Burns, Dr Nicola
• Authors: Follis, L., Follis, K., and Burns, N.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Journal Name: International Journal of Cultural Studies
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• ISSN: 1367-8779
• ISSN (Online): 1460-356X
• Published Online: 18 May 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in International Journal of Cultural Studies 2023
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy