Research Article
Women’s Migration and Childhood Illness Social
Determinants of Health
Rabiev Bobomurod Bahadirovich*
Issue:
Volume 12, Issue 2, June 2026
Pages:
27-32
Received:
16 February 2026
Accepted:
26 February 2026
Published:
30 July 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.jfmhc.20261202.11
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Abstract: Female labor migration has become a structurally embedded livelihood strategy in Uzbekistan, reshaping household economies while simultaneously transforming the social determinants of child health. This article examines the multidimensional relationship between women's migration and childhood illness through a Social Determinants of Health (SDH) framework, integrating economic remittances, caregiving arrangements, psychosocial environments, and access to healthcare services. Drawing on mixed-method evidence from household surveys and secondary demographic-health datasets, the study analyzes migrant-sending families across urban and rural regions of Uzbekistan. Survey data (N=386 migrant mothers connected to Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and EU labor markets) indicate that while remittances increase household income by an estimated 28–41%, the absence of maternal caregivers correlates with a measurable rise in childhood morbidity. Specifically, children left in transnational care arrangements show higher reported incidence of acute respiratory infections (18%), gastrointestinal diseases (14%), and psychosomatic symptoms such as sleep disorders and anxiety (22%) compared to non-migrant households. The findings reveal a paradoxical health gradient improved material conditions (nutrition expenditure 26 percentage, private clinic use 19 percentage) coexist with weakened daily caregiving, reduced preventive health monitoring, and delayed treatment-seeking behaviors. Rural households demonstrate greater vulnerability due to limited pediatric infrastructure and reliance on elderly substitute caregivers. Within the Uzbek socio-cultural context—where maternal presence remains central to early childhood development—the feminization of migration produces unintended public health externalities. The article argues that migration policy and child health policy must be analytically integrated. Targeted interventions—transnational parenting programs, community health surveillance for left-behind children, and portable social protection mechanisms—are proposed as structural responses. This study contributes to migration-health scholarship by evidencing how gendered mobility reconfigures childhood illness risk not only through income effects but through caregiving displacement embedded in Uzbekistan's evolving labor migration system.
Abstract: Female labor migration has become a structurally embedded livelihood strategy in Uzbekistan, reshaping household economies while simultaneously transforming the social determinants of child health. This article examines the multidimensional relationship between women's migration and childhood illness through a Social Determinants of Health (SDH) fr...
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