Theoretical perspectives on health and migration: Social determinants, transnationalism, and structural vulnerability

This article critically analyzes the three major contemporary theoretical approaches in addressing health and migration: The social determinants of health approach of the World Health Organization; studies on transnationalism and health; and current proposals on structural vulnerability. To this end, the core ideas that characterize each of these approaches and the main criticisms made are presented. Given that most of the current literature is being published in English, this article summarizes some of the main contributions in the field for the Spanish-speaking public, constituting the first work of this type to include the structural vulnerability approach. The analysis was carried out with CAQDAS Nvivo, using summarizing, structuring, and explanatory content analysis. The article emphasizes the importance of the processes of structural determination of the health of migrants and concludes by advocating an analysis of the scientific conventions present in the theoretical perspectives, insofar as these have a concrete impact on the health of migrants, as policy’s foundations and as raw material for common sense.