The Thailand longitudinal study of migration and health is an NIH-funded study of the impacts of rural-to-urban migration on the health of young adult migrants (1 RO1 HD 46527). This on-going study is being conducted at the Kanchanaburi demographic field site, a province on Thailand's western border with Burma. The first round of fieldwork for the health study was completed during the fall 2005 in Thailand.
With support from the Wellcome Trust, the Kanchanaburi Project commenced in January 2000. The primary objective of the project is to monitor population change within a field site selected from communities in Kanchanaburi province. Kanchanaburi is the second largest province in Thailand and is located in the western part of the country. The province shares a long border history with Myanmar and contains a variety of ethnic groups and migrants, both documented and undocumented, from Myanmar. The province is also within easy reach of Bangkok, and hence is the location of many industries.
The field site consists of 100 villages and/or urban census blocks scattered throughout the province. During July of each year, commencing in 2000, a census of all communities in the field station population has been undertaken. The census includes the administration of a household questionnaire for all households, and individual questionnaires for household members aged 15 and over.
In addition to the individual and household data collected through the annual census of field site communities, a community questionnaire is also fielded annually. These contextual data are integrated with, and supplemented by, a Geographic Information System (GIS), that includes the coordinates of all households, transport systems, and key sites in the communities, including health facilities. This rich body of contextual and spatial data in the GIS system is integrated with the household and individual data. This is particularly useful for estimating models that examine both the determinants of migration as a well as key contextual factors correlated with subsequent patterns of sexual behavior.
- Nauman, Elizabeth, Mark VanLandingham, Philip Anglewicz, Umaporn Patthavanit, and Sureeporn Punpuing. 2015. Rural-to-urban migration and changes in health among young adults in Thailand. Demography 52(1): 233-259.
- Anglewicz, Philip, Mark VanLandingham, and Dusita Phuengsamran. 2014. Rural-urban migration and sexual debut in Thailand. Demography 51(5): 1955-1976.
- VanLandingham, Mark and Mengxi Zhang. In press. Migration and health. In Ritzer, George and J. Michael Ryan (eds). The Encyclopedia of Sociology. Oxford: Blackwell Books.
- Nauman, Elizabeth, Mark VanLandingham, and Philip Anglewicz. In press. Migration, urbanization, and health. In White, Michael (ed). Handbook of Migration. New York: Springer.
The team includes the following personnel:
Tulane University:- Mark VanLandingham, Ph.D., principal investigator
- Philip Anglewicz, Ph.D., co-principal investigator
- Sureeporn Punpuing (Tim), Ph.D., co-investigator
- Umaporn Pattravanich, Ph.D., co-investigator
- Niphou Darawuttimaprakorn, research assistant
- Dusita Phuengsamran, research assistant
- Philip Guest, Ph.D., co-investigator
