Weathers receives NICHHD award to study health care access for migratory children
| July 10, 2008 | |
Photograph, Dr. Andrea Weathers
Andrea C. Weathers, MD, DrPH, assistant professor of maternal and child health in the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, has received a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to study the association between migration, child health and access to care among children of agricultural labor migrants. Weathers will serve as principal investigator for the two-year, $397,000 award. The study will test the feasibility of a population-based sampling strategy for the children of agricultural labor migrants in Florida, North Carolina and New York, and will examine how family mobility is associated with child health care access and barriers to care. The project represents the first multi-state, population-based sampling of migrant families with children performed in the U.S. As such, it will offer information about health and access to care for the children of one of the most vulnerable populations – agricultural labor migrants and undocumented children. “It is recognized that insufficient research describes barriers to care and to insurance coverage for migrant children,” Weathers says. “As a result, policy remains uninformed by scientific knowledge. Results and reports from this study will be used to inform program and policy developers and will allow us to understand whether or not health and access to care outcomes (including insurance) vary with trans- versus intra-national migration.” Weathers will collaborate with Eric Foster, PhD, study director at Temple University’s Institute for Survey Research, and Katharine Donato, PhD, professor of sociology at Vanderbilt University.
School of Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu. |
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