In the midst of a global pandemic due to the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease-19, what became clear is that a government’s response to a global pandemic must include migrant health, especially the undocumented migrants. Even before the global pandemic, there was a recognition that the world entered an era when more people are on the move than ever before and these migrants continue to be overlooked in many countries where access to health care often remains limited and conditional. In addition, there are various misperceptions about migrants around the world such as a claim that migrants place a heavy financial burden on the host society and the state’s health system. Misperceptions like these not only can have a negative effect on migrant’s health but also have a dire consequence during the timeof global pandemic which we are currently in right now. A consensus was made that excluding migrants from a rights-based approach to health is a blatantly poor public health practice and is, in general, a violation of migrants’ rights.
Based on informal participant observations, surveys conducted by the research team, forums and discussions with migrant health support groups namely WeFriends, visiting various free migrant health clinics such as Ansan Vincent’s Clinic, and literature review, this paper examines the current status and issues of migrant health in South Korea and considers how the Community Health Worker (CHW) model of the US can be applied in the South Korean context. Specifically, the paper proposes the 5 key features of CHWs (migrant culture, leadership, holism, integration with a health care team, bridge) and as a holistic practice, what human rights that are interdependent to the rights to health marriage migrant women as migrant community health workers can promote to improve the migrant health in South Korea from right-based and preventive healthcare approaches.