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Background: In Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of women and child migrants is rising, mainly due to humanitarian crises. While studies in other populations link humanitarian-driven migration to poorer health outcomes, this association is understudied in the region. Aims: To examine the relationship between migration and newborn health and to understand how different migration causes -humanitarian and non-humanitarian causes- influence infant health outcomes in the Latin American context. Methods: Using national birth records from Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Uruguay, I conducted logistic regression analyses to examine the relationship between migration and low birth weight (LBW). The study includes two stages: the first assesses the overall association between migration and LBW, while the second analyzes differences including humanitarian nonhumanitarian causes of migration.
Results: Migration due to humanitarian causes is associated with an increased risk of LBW among infants born to Latin American and Caribbean migrants in the region. In all the countries included in this sample, with the exception of Colombia, infants born to migrants from humanitarian crises show significantly higher odds of LBW. In contrast, infants born to women who migrate for non-humanitarian reasons exhibit more favorable health outcomes across all countries in this study. Conclusions: In Latin America, humanitarian displacement is associated to a higher risk of LBW. In the region, migration is mostly linked to humanitarian types of displacement. Regardless of the reason for migration, migrants in most of the countries studied report significantly lower access to prenatal health services.