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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Analysis of needs, expectations and capacities of health and social care professionals in order to provide culturally adapted care

subject

description

Abstract The Mig-HealthCare consortium conducted a qualitative study of the health care needs of vulnerable migrants/refugees in Europe. The research was conducted between Fall 2017 and Spring 2018. In total, 20 focus group discussions or, where necessary individual interviews (19), were organised with health care professionals and service providers; policymakers; and representatives from Non-Governmental Organisations - NGOs. Thematic qualitative analysis was employed. The main results of the analysis show that: Health care provision for migrants is uneven throughout the EU and variations exist even within the same country. Health care providers and NGOs agree that health care for migrants is inadequate and biased in favour of particular conditions and cases (minors, pregnant women and acute conditions). Challenges faced by different countries vary; while in some countries the main issue is legal access, in other basic needs such as sanitation and basic infrastructure were emphasised. Austerity measures following the 2008 financial crisis have negatively affected the health care system in general, which in turn has negatively affected the provision of health care for migrants/refugees. Discrimination linked to socio-economic and ethnic conditions is reported as a barrier to equal health care access. Knowledge, language and communication on both the demand and the supply side of health care provision emerge as crucial to ensure equal access for migrants/refugees. Gender may act as a barrier with women tending to be more marginalised in the host country, in terms of language proficiency and health literacy, lowering health care access. One of the main challenges for providing equal health care access for migrants has to do with the ability to balance a universal right to health with the particular means of achieving it. The evidence collected here shows how this tension between end and means is at work in different moments of the provision of health care for migrants/refugees.