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• Refugees and Migrants face poorer health outcomes than the local population in their host countries.
• Refugees and migrants have physical and mental health needs that may differ from those of the host populations.
• Refugees and Migrants face many barriers to accessing healthcare in host countries.
Today, 1 in 8 people are refugees or migrants. Migration heavily impacts the individual's health, for better or worse. Health can drastically improve if someone moves from conflicts to a peaceful situation or from an area of high unemployment to one with better pay. But in some situations, it can be stagnant or worsen. Examples of how this can occur if someone has increased exposure to infections, lack of or restricted access to health services, interruption of ongoing health care, provision, or treatment, and underimmunization for vaccine-preventable diseases.
Many nonmedical factors can influence the health outcomes of refugees, migrants, and host populations. These include individual characteristics and behaviors, social and economic, and physical environments. The status of refugees and migrants can further complicate these determinants in several ways. A lot of the policies of the host country concerning health care play a significant role as well. Some countries are more inclusive with their healthcare than others.
The health needs of migrants and those of the host country can vary in several ways, such as migrants face poor transit conditions, complex immigration policies, exclusion, and acculturation stress, which all take a toll on individuals’ health status and needs. Examples can be they are more likely to be victims of sexual violence, have poor awareness of and low use of contraception, and have unmet family planning needs. Severe situations such as cancer might be diagnosed much later. Also, many refugees and migrants are at risk of developing mental health conditions often caused by traumatic or stressful experiences.
Many migrants face many barriers to accessing health services and receiving timely diagnosis and continuous treatment and care. Some examples of the barriers they face are cost, proximity, and general gaps in the health systems. This can be similar to the everyday barriers many of the host countries face as well. Some other issues unique to migrants ( and many other foreigners) are related to the unfamiliarity with the health system in transit and host countries and, therefore, to the limited knowledge of how to use the system. Language and communication barriers are also a challenge for refugees’ and migrants’ access to health services. Sometimes, healthcare workers are not trained to deal with this. Cultural differences can also cause some confusion and cause more barriers.
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Shauna Siggelkow, Define American (In Progress)
Eliska Flidrova, Charles University
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