ABSTRACT
Migrant farmworkers are an invaluable part of the multi-billion dollar US agricultural industry. Despite the valuable fruits of their labor, farmworkers are marginalized from society and frequently experience prejudice and hostility in the communities in which they live and work. This chapter discusses the health status and health care access, followed by a review of the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and HIV-related cofactors such as tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases. According to the Office of Migrant Health's definition, farmworkers are persons who identify agriculture as their primary employment. Farmworkers in the US present a mosaic of ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity. According to the 1990 national agricultural workers survey, nearly two-thirds of the farmworkers were foreign-born. Among the foreign-born farmworkers, the majority were from Mexico and the remaining were from other Latin American countries, Asia and the Caribbean. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
