Mendizabal-Espinosa, Rosa; Ramírez, Viviana; Hernández-Cordero, Sonia; (2025) Temporary urban migration, maternal-infant wellbeing, and the social production of health: a co-produced ethnographic study from Mexico. Presented at: British Sociological Association - Medical Sociology Conference, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.

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Abstract

In Mexico, where 46.8 million people live in poverty (CONEVAL, 2022), families of preterm babies -especially those from rural and indigenous backgrounds- face substantial challenges in accessing neonatal intensive care, which is largely concentrated in metropolitan areas. Temporary relocation to cities such as Puebla and Tlaxcala is often necessary for survival, but this journey entails emotional distress, economic strain, and social dislocation. While maternal-infant health and urban-rural disparities have gained policy attention, the sociological implications of such temporary migration remain underexplored. Our co-produced ethnographic study investigates how poverty, gender, ethnicity, and urban infrastructures shape the wellbeing of families with preterm infants admitted to urban neonatal intensive care units. Drawing on diaries and interviews with 10 families, we explore how embodied experiences are shaped by fragmented health systems and limited public services. The study is ongoing, on this paper we present initial findings. Using an intersectional urban sociology lens (Peake et al., 2021; Sakızlıoğlu, 2024), we argue that urban healthcare is co-produced through material conditions, interpersonal dynamics, and structural inequalities. The paper challenges assumptions of cities as inherently health-promoting spaces and reveals how urban infrastructures both enable and constrain care. Our findings contribute to medical sociology and urban health research by revealing how social inequalities are embedded in place-based healthcare access. The paper also offers implications for culturally responsive and integrated maternal-infant care in contexts of poverty and informality, particularly across the Global South.

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