Contribution of migrant women remain ignored: UNFPA

New Delhi, Sep 6 (UNI) Even though women constitute almost half of the international migrants contributing to the global economy and taking care of sick, elderly and their families both at home and abroad, their needs and contributions largely remained ignored, according the UNFPA State of the World Population 2006 report released here today.

The report titled 'A Passage To Hope: Women and International Migration' states that 95 million women have migrated internationally consituting 49.5 per cent of the total migration and sent hundreds of millions of dollars in remittance back to their homes and communities. These funds go to feed and educate children, provide health care, build homes, foster small businesses and generally improve living standards of loved ones left behind.

Despite a dearth of reliable global data, a number of country specific studies revealed female remittances were critical. Of the one billion dollars in migrant funds sent back to Sri Lanka in 1999, women contributed over 62 per cent while of 6 billion remitted annually to the Philippines in the late 1990s, migrant women transferred one third.

Although their overall contribution is less than men, studies revealed that they send a higher poropriton of their more meagre earnings to their families back home.

However, for the host countries the labour of migrant women is so embedded in the fabric of society that it goes virtually unnoticed.

Migrant women also contribute in other ways like improved child health and lower mortality rates due to the health education they acquire abroad. It also poses many challenges like the adverse impact on the health care services due to migration of trained nurses and doctors from poorer countries to developed nations and fuelling of human trafficking.

In view of the great impact of women migration worldwide, a United Nations session would be held this month in New York to specifically discuss the topic of migration. Government representatives from various countries would participate in the meet.

'The 2006 high level Dialogue on International Migration and Development represents a critical opportunity to ensure that the needs and human rights of migrant women and their contribution to the poverty reduction and development are explicitly and adequately recognised and addressed.

''Failure to do so will constitute a serious setback to the human rights of almost 50 per cent of the world's international migrants.

It will also mean yet another lost opportunity to fully utilise the contribution of female migrants in their fight against gender discrimination, poverty and want,'' Safiye Cagar, Director Information, Executive Board and Resource Mobilisation UNFPA, said in her message.

Brain drain of health care workers from developing to developed countries could be felt by the fragile health care system of the former.

Studies have revealed that migration or its intention was especially high among health workers living in regions hit hardest by HIV/AIDS--68 percent of those surveyed in Zimbabwe and 26 percent in Uganda experessed their desire to move abroad.

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