Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
Congratulations to BU postgraduate student Yagya Adhikari, who has just been informed by the editor of the Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health that his paper “Parental migration for work and psychosocial problems among left-behind adolescents in Nepal” [1] has been accepted for publication. Yagya’s PhD is based in the Faculty of Health, Environment & Medical Science. He is supervised by Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen with support from Mr. Sudip Khanal, Lecturer in Biostatistics, at Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Kathmandu. This is the second paper from Yagya’s PhD the first one was published at the start of his PhD studies [2]. Both papers are published in Open Access journals and therefor will be freely available to read by anyone in the world with internet access.
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Nepal has been in the world news this week for the wrong reasons, with young protesters burning down the parliament, and damaging many government building in all seven provinces. Some 30 young people died in the process and and thousands of sometimes dangerous prisoners were freed. After the political and social upheaval in the country this past week, Nepalese migrant workers are beginning to return home from India to be with their families. Today (Friday 12th September) the BBC online reported under the heading ‘Worried migrants head home from India after Nepal turmoil‘.
The journalist interviewed both migrant workers and students from Nepal living in India. The piece also cited several studies on Nepalese migrant workers in India, including a Bournemouth University (BU) study with the title ‘The Health of Nepali Migrants in India: A Qualitative Study of Lifestyles and Risks‘ [1]. This publication is one of the many published papers on the health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers conducted in BU’s Faculty of Health, Environment & Medical Sciences. The lead author of this paper in theInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is Dr. Pramod Regmi, Principal Academic in International Health. 
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Last week, BU academic Dr. Pramod Regmi delivered a plenary talk on the struggles faced by Nepalese migrant workers from departure to return at the 22nd Britain-Nepal Academic Council (BNAC) Conference, held on 24–25 April in Liverpool. The session included two other panelists, including Prof. Padam Simkhada from the University of Huddersfield, he is also a BU Visiting Professor.
Dr. Regmi’s talk highlighted the health burden experienced by Nepali migrants throughout their migration journey. Labour migration from Nepal poses significant risks at all stages. Many aspiring migrants lack access to accurate information and support, while those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds face high documentation costs and illegal recruitment fees, affecting their mental health and placing strain on their families. Abroad, migrants often suffer exploitation, unsafe working conditions, overcrowded and unsanitary housing, limited access to healthcare, and high medical expenses. Female migrants face additional risks such as sexual violence, unintended pregnancy, exploitation, and unemployment. Upon return, especially for those who experienced abuse or trafficking, reintegration is hindered by social stigma and a lack of support services. Nepal’s weak economy further limits their ability to utilise skills gained abroad.
This presentation was informed by a long history of BU research into the health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers, led by Dr. Regmi, Dr. Nirmal Aryal, Dr. Orlanda Harvey, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and current PhD students Yagya Adhikari and Anjana Regmi Paudyal in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.
A round table discussion after the session focused on four questions:
Bournemouth University also contributed to two other presentations related to a project studying the impact of federalisation on Nepal’s health system. This study was funded by the UK Health Systems Research Initiative to examine the consequences of Nepal’s transition from a centralised political system to a federal structure in 2015. These two papers were presented by BU collaborators Prof. Julie Balen (Canterbury Christ Church University) and Ms. Amshu Dhakal (Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal).
BU’s Dr. Regmi, Prof Edwin van Teijlingen and Dr Nirmal collectively have over 40 publications on Nepalese migrants’ health and well-being issues. Their recent publications on the topic include studies on modern slavery [1], kidney disease [2–4], pre-departure training of aspiring migrant workers in Nepal [5], moral panic and societal fears around migrant workers and COVID-19 [6–7], Nepalese migrant workers in Malaysia [8–9], left-behind families of migrant workers [10], migrant workers and the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup [11–12], Nepalese migrants in the UK [13], as well as a comprehensive literature review [14]. They are also a founder members of Health Research Network for Migrant Workers in Asia: www.hearmigrants.org
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This year’s annual conference of BNAC (Britain-Nepal Academic Council) will be held on April 24-25 at Liverpool John Moores University. Dr. Pramod Regmi, Principal Academic in International Health in the Department of Nursing Sciences, will be a panellist on a Round Table discussion on the topic of ‘The Hidden Burden of Migration: Struggles of Nepalese Labour Migrants from Departure to Return’. 
This contribution is inspired by history of BU research into the health and well-being of migrant workers from Nepal by Dr.Regmi, Dr. Nirmal Aryal, Dr. Orlanda Harvey, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen as well as Bournemouth University PhD students Yagya Adhikari and Anjana Regmi Paudyal. Dr. Regmi’s more recent publications on the topic include papers on: modern slavery [1], kidney disease [2-4], pre-departure training of aspiring migrant workers in Nepal [5], moral panics and societal fear around migrant workers and COVID-19 [6-7], Nepalese migrant workers in Malaysia [8-9], left-behind families of migrant workers [10], migrant workers and the 2022 FIFA male football world cup [11-12], Nepalese migrants in the UK [13] as well as literature review [14].
Bournemouth University is further involved in two presentation originating from the project studying the impact of the introduction of federalisation in Nepal on its health system. Details about our project are on the website Nepal Federal Health System Project. This study was funded by the UK Health Systems Research Initiative [Grant ref. MR/T023554/1] to study the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move from a centralised political system to a more federal government structure in 2015.
Our interdisciplinary joint project was led by the University of Sheffield in collaboration with Bournemouth University, the University of Huddersfield, Canterbury Christ Church University and two institutions in Nepal, namely Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (in Nepal) and PHASE Nepal. In late 2022 further funding was awarded by 
the Medical Research Foundation to Prof. Julie Balen, from Canterbury Christ Church University, to disseminate the findings of our UK Health Systems Research Initiative-funded research in Nepal. These two papers will be presented by our collaborators, namely Prof. Julie Balen of Canterbury Christ Church University and Ms. Amshu Dhakal from Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
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Two days ago BMJ Open published our latest article on Nepalese migrant workers ‘Coproducing a culturally sensitive storytelling video intervention to improve psycho-social well-being: a multimethods participatory study with Nepalese migrant workers’ [1]. This paper reports on an interdisciplinary feasibility study conducted in a Dhading, Nepal. The paper is Open Access and hence freely available to anybody across the globe with internet access. The authors claim the project is testament to the value of participatory methods in the development of culturally sensitive public health interventions for marginalised groups, and points to the utility of co-produced storytelling formats in migrant health contexts. The authors further highlight that future research is needed to evaluate feasibility and acceptability of the intervention as well as the outcomes and experiences of migrant workers who engaged with the video. 
This latest paper in the field of the health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers has Prof. Priya Paudyal from the University of Keele as its first author, and is co-authored by FHSS Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in BU’s Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH). Previous research on migrant workers from Nepal from the BU team in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences has resulted in three dozen academic papers [2-35].
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
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The paper ‘Health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers abroad’ [1], which was part of the PhD work of Dr. Pratik Adhikary has been cited forty times. This is one of the many recent Bournemouth University papers focusing on the health and well-being of migrant workers from Nepal. The purpose of this paper was to assess the health and mental well-being of Nepalese construction and factory workers employed in Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. We used a structured questionnaire administered, in and around Nepal’s international airport. In total 403 migrants who had worked for over six months in their host countries. Logistic regression was used to investigate factors associated with self-reported health status and mental health symptoms.
Pratik’s PhD was supervised by Dr. Zoe Sheppard, Dr. Steve Keen and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. This research has been financially supported by a PhD studentship at Bournemouth University and funding from the Open Society Foundation (OSF). BU supported Pratik to travel to Nepal, and the OSF provided subsistence funds. Pratik has written several further papers based on his PhD study [2-5].
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This week the Global Health Journal accepted the latest article on female migrant workers from Nepal [1]. The paper is co-authored by Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health as well as by Faculty of Health & Social Sciences Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam, and other Nepalese co-authors are based in the UK and Nepal. Ms. Manju Gurung is co-founder & strategic advisor of POURAKHI Nepal, an Nepal-based organisation supporting ,migrant workers. Dr. Sharada P.Wasti, is based at the University of Greenwich, and he has collaborated with Bournemouth University academics on several previous academic papers on health, work-related migration and human trafficking [2-4].
The paper highlights the plight of women working abroad and the problems they encounter destination countries. This study reported in this paper was conducted among 1,889 women who were registered as migrant returnees at an organisation called POURAKHI Nepal. The study extracted and analysed data from this non-governmental organisation that
supports returning female migrant workers in Nepal.
Around half (43.1 %) of the women in the study were 35 or older, 30.9 % were illiterate, and 63.6 % were in their first overseas job. Over one-third (38.5 %) had experienced self-reported workplace harassment. Gender-based violence was a serious problem as physical violence was highly prevalent (68 %), followed by verbal abuse (37.5 %), mental stress (29.7 %), and sexual abuse (14.1 %).
Women who worked abroad with the following characteristics were at the greatest risk: those who were illiterate (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]1.25, 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 1.01 to 1.55), unmarried (AOR 1.27, 95 % CI: 1.05 to 1.56), worked abroad twice or more years (AOR 1.35, 95 % CI: 1.10 to 1.66), changed their place of work (AOR 2.38, 95 % CI: 1.42 to 4.01), lived without documents (AOR 1.24, 95 % CI: 1.03 to 1.50), worked as domestics (AOR 3.56, 95 % CI: 2.03 to 6.23), worked in other than Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (AOR 1.45, 95 % CI: 1.06 to 1.99), women who did not have a fixed salary (AOR 1.64, 95 % CI: 1.28 to 2.10) and did not receive salary (AOR 3.71, 95 % CI: 2.88 to 4.77) were more likely to be harassed at work.
The authors recommend that the host governments should introduce and enforce policies protecting women in the workplace. Moreover, migrant women should be provided with better information about health risks and hazards as well as how to improve preventive measures in destination countries to reduce workplace harassment.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health
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Last week the scientific journal Tropical Medicine & Infectious Disease informed us that our paper ‘A Qualitative Insights into Pre-Departure Orientation Training for Aspiring Nepalese Migrant Workers’ has been accepted for publication. This paper is part of a Special Issue of the journal with the title Contemporary Migrant Health, 2nd Edition). Tropical Medicine & Infectious Disease is an Open Access journal, which means it is freely available to anybody in Nepal (and the rest of the world) with internet access. The lead author of our latest health and migration article is Dr. Pramod Regmi in the Department of Nursing Science and his Bournemouth University co-authors are:
Dr. Nirmal Aryal and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.
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Dr. Nirmal Aryal, who is a part-time researcher in the Department of Nursing Sciences, is in Malaysia this week to prepare further migrant-health research collaborations and plans. His trip is part of the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS) seed-corn funding for Early Career Researchers. In Malaysia Nirmal has conducted several PPIE (Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement) events with migrant workers and stakeholders, including current Nepalese migrant workers. Nirmal is working closely with Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (both based in FHSS) in the field of the health and well-being of Nepalse migrant workers.
Today Nirmal also met with the Ambassador of Nepal in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) who expressed a great interest in our work.
Nirmal is on a double mission as building links in Malaysia is also important for our latest funded project ‘ENSURE‘. ENSURE is a project led by La Isla Network in the United States of America. La Isla Network, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (based in the U.S.), the Nepal Development Society and Bournemouth University are leading the first-ever international effort to research and address trafficking among Nepalese labour migrants. The work is funded by a $4 million cooperative agreement awarded by the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, International Programs.
Last week we found out that the paper ‘Moral panic, fear, stigma, and discrimination against returnee migrants and Muslim populations in Nepal: analyses of COVID-19 media content’ was published by the Journal of Media Studies [1]. This latest paper is co-authored by Dr. Nirmal Aryal and Dr. Pramod Regmi in the Department of Nursing Sciences, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH), as well as former BU employee Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhokari. The published paper addresses the effects of COVID-19 stereotyping and so-called ‘othering’ on migrant workers returning home to Nepal is the latest article in a long line of publications by Faculty of Health and Social Sciences (FHSS) academics.
This BU team (including former and current PhD students) has published over thirty papers on a wide range of aspects related to migrant and their work, health and well-being [2-31].
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Last week for the first time in over a year I received a request for a mass media interview in the UK on our research. On Easter Monday (1 April) I received an email to appear on Sky TV that very evening to speak about migrant workers and kidney health. this seemed to fit in very nicely with our recently completed study on kidney health funded by the charity The Colt Foundation, and our on-going Ensure-Nepal project funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Office.
After a lot of hassle and finally speaking to the TV research assistant over the phone it turned out Sky TV really wanted an expert to talk about poor people in South Asia selling kidney, despite what they had put in the email invitation on their interest in kidney health of migrant worker. In the end it felt like a few hours wasted on my Bank Holiday Monday. 
Then to my surprise I received a call on Wednesday from BBC Radio Scotland to speak about what babies can hear in the womb and the importance of singing lullabies. Unfortunately, I had to put that request down as this is really not my area of expertise as Professor of Reproductive Health.
Requests to appear on the media to speak about once research seem to be like buses. As the old saying goes, you wait ages for a bus and then two (or more) come along at once. And in this case, NOT only did two turn up, but they were wrong buses anyway!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)
Drs. Pramod Regmi and Nirmal Aryal in the Department of Nursing Sciences published a new paper with colleagues from Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines in PLoS ONE under the title ‘Assessing the basic knowledge and awareness of dengue fever prevention among migrant workers in Klang Valley, Malaysia’. [1] Globally, 390 million dengue virus infections occur per year. In Malaysia, migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to Dengue Fever (DF) due to mosquito breeding sites exposure and poor health literacy. This study reports on assessing the current Dengue Fever knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP). The paper identifies strategies to promote awareness around Dengue Fever among migrant workers in Malaysia. Most respondents were male, working in the services industry, had completed high school, aged between 30–39 years and with less than ten years work experience in Malaysia. Overall, respondents’ knowledge was positively correlated with attitude but negatively with practices. Older respondents, who had completed higher education, obtained higher knowledge scores. Similarly, those with working experience of >20 years in Malaysia obtained higher attitude scores. Respondents with a previous history of Dengue Fever strongly considered the removal of mosquito breeding sites as their own responsibility, hence tended to frequently apply preventive measures. Respondents’ knowledge was also positively correlated to their understanding of Dengue Fever information sourced from social media platforms.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
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New paper on migrant workers from Nepal was published this week in KMC Journal. The paper ‘Risk Perception and Protective Health Measure Regarding COVID-19 among Nepali Labour Migrants’ Returnee from India’ has Shanti Khanal as lead author [1]. The journal is Open Access, hence freely available online across the globe. The paper examines the association between risk perception and protective behaviour regarding COVID-19 in returnee migrant workers. A total of 384 returnee migrants, based in a quarantine centre on return from India, participated in the study. Using the health belief model (HBM) as a theoretical framework, a structured interview questionnaire was designed and administered. A further three health workers were interviewed face-to-face.
The study showed that the perceived risk of COVID-19 among participants was medium to low. Participants perceived few barriers and had low self-efficacy levels compared to other constructs. This study further showed that participants were more likely to follow a range of protective health behaviours, but not found all. The study revealed a significant association between all risk perception constructs and protective behaviours (p=< 0.05). This study accordingly highlighted a significant relationship between the respondents’ risk perception level and protective health behaviours. The study envisaged that public awareness of risk to the people who returned from India is essential to increase risk perception during the outbreak.
The study works towards fulfilling SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), especially ‘Good health and well-being’ (SDG 3) and Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8).
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)
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Yesterday, Sunday 14th January, I was invited by Bournemouth University’s former PhD student Dr. Pratik Adhikary to run a three-hour methods session on semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions at the Nepal Injury Research Centre (NIRC). The workshop was based on work normally presented as part of BU’s Doctoral College Researcher Development Programme.
The audience comprised PhD students based at NIRC, as well as at Kathmandu Medical College (KMC), and Nepal’s oldest and largest university, Tribhuvan University. Participants were involved in research into many different research questions, ranging from road traffic accidents to sexual health and the well-being of migrant workers. NIRC was established with funding from the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Global Health Research Programme and it is a partnership between KMC and the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE).
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)
On my latest trip to Nepal I noticed a number of related newspaper stories about those wanting to migrate abroad for work. Yesterday there was an article with the headline ‘Three held for defrauding unemployed youths’ (The Himalayan Times, January 11, page 2), which could be seen as story about crime, just like the one next to it on the same page with was headed ‘Vehicle stolen’ (The Himalayan Times, January 11, page 2) . 
Both fit under the category of people suffering from crime committed by naughty people. However, having studied labour migration as a sociologist for over a decade it also speaks of the desperation of young people to leave Nepal. In that sense, the ‘Three held for defrauding unemployed youths’ story, is more like the story the day before ‘Family of Nepali who joined Russian Army worried after hearing about his death’ (The Himalayan Times, January 10, page 1).
In the latter story of a tragic death of a Nepalese mercenary, the most unexpected element I found was that Nepalese victim had paid Rs. 500,000 to criminals, who acted as brokers. I would have expected that Putin’s agents operating in the Middle East were paying large amounts of money to potential army recruits to fight in the invasion of Ukraine. To my great surprise, the payment was the other way round, where Nepalese migrant workers are desperate enough to pay the country at war. When people are desperate to work abroad unscrupulous brokers see opportunities to make money.
Whilst at the end of December 2023 two Nepalese men were killed when Korean language test candidates were staging demonstrations in Kathmandu demanding that they be allowed to appear for language tests for jobs in the manufacturing sector in South Korea. When the Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport stopped to intervene, he sparked a riot and his car was set on fire. The police opened fire and killed two protesters in a very un-Nepalese way of dealing with protest. Again to me the underlying issue to note is how desperate these men are to go abroad and get to work in South Korea.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMWH (Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health)
A few days ago were alerted by ResearchGate that our article ‘Migrant Workers in Qatar: Not just an important topic during the FIFA World Cup‘ has reached 300 reads [1]. We (Padam Simkhada, Pramod Regmi and I) wrote this article a year ago to raise publicity about the conditions of Nepalese migrant workers in the Middle East. The hazards faced by migrant workers engaged in building the football stadiums in Qatar have been well documented before and during the FIFA Men’s Football World Cup. Their working conditions are often very dangerous and their living conditions are often very poor. 
This time last year Dr. Pramod Regmi, Dr. Nirmal Aryal, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and BU’s Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada also published ‘Excessive Mortalities among Migrant Workers: the Case of the 2022 FIFA World Cup’ [2]. At the time we wrote “The men’s FIFA Football World Cup 2022 is in full flow in Qatar” which finished with a very exciting final between Argentina and France. Around the same time BU’s PhD student Yagya Adhikari also wrote a paper on ‘Forgotten health and social care needs of left-behind families of Nepali migrant workers’ [3]. This paper was co-authored by Dr.Pramod Regmi in the Department of Nursing Sciences, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Bhimsen Devkota.
Unfortunately, since the World Cup finished, the world, the media and our politicians have moved on and the health and well-being of migrant workers are no longer headline news. The reminder this week of 300 reads for our editorial gives us another opportunity to remind everyone of the need to keep the plight of migrant workers in the Middle East (and elsewhere) on the world’s agenda.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)
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