Abstract
The scoping review found no published research in the past decade that was focused on tuberculosis
surveillance in migrant labors in Thailand. The review data comparing the number of tuberculosis
patients in Thailand from three sources: the World Health Organization and two of the Ministry of
Public Health - the Permanent Secretary Office’s Information and Communication Technology Center
and the Department of Disease Control’s Bureau of Tuberculosis; indicated large disparities in terms
of both the number of migrant labors and the number of migrant labor tuberculosis cases in Thailand.
The chest X-ray screening for tuberculosis in migrant labors used by the Department of Employment of Thailand was in accordance with the tuberculosis screening guidelines of most Western and Asian
countries such as Singapore and Taiwan. The difference of tuberculosis screening processes was that
Western nations usually required pre-arrival screening from the country of origin of immigrants. Meanwhile,
migrant labors entered Thailand’s territory before any tuberculosis screening had been done.
The screening was then done after labor registration which might hinder the tuberculosis screening
process in the country. Singapore and Taiwan implemented time limits as to when the tuberculosis
screening would have to take place for migrant workers after arrival. The other countries also
screened to identify latent tuberculosis in vulnerable and high-risk groups. Major barriers of tuberculosis
monitoring in migrant labors in Thailand were the frequent relocating of labors and changes of
employment that made it difficult for the authorities to screen, monitor and treat tuberculosis in this
population as well as impeded the tuberculosis control efforts of public health agencies. The search
and review of information identified opportunities for improving tuberculosis management by enhancing
the efficiency of the tuberculosis surveillance in migrant labors in terms of coverage and quality
of health data.
