Exploring The Migration Profiles of Primary Healthcare Users in South Africa

Abstract

South Africa’s public healthcare system responses seldom engage with migration. Our exploratory study investigates migration profiles and experiences of primary healthcare (PHC) users. A cross-sectional survey involving non-probability sampling was conducted with 229 PHC users at six purposively selected PHC clinics in three districts of SA. The survey captured socio-demographic information, migration histories, and PHC experiences. Chi square and Fischer’s exact tests were used to compare categorical variables, whilst Mann–Whitney U tests compared continuous variables between groups. Most PHC users were migrants (22% internal South African; 45% cross-border) who generally move for reasons other than healthcare seeking. Length of time accessing services at a specific clinic was shown to be key in describing experiences of PHC use. Understanding population movement is central to PHC strengthening in SA and requires improved understanding of mobility dynamics in regard to not just nationality, but also internal mobility and length of stay.

Giving Birth in a Foreign Land: Exploring the Maternal Healthcare Experiences of Zimbabwean Migrant Women Living in Johannesburg, South Africa

“…Crush and Tawodzera 2014;Vearey et al 2016). South Africa's public health history is permeated with discrimination (Coovadia et al 2009), and healthcare providers have been found to be responsible for importing their own personal and social priorities into their working environment-negatively affecting professionalism (Andersen 2004).…”

“…Additionally, the South African national constitution section 27 ((2) and (3)) makes provision for universal access to healthcare regardless of nationality. Despite South Africa's Bhealth for all^policy, challenges still exist for non-nationals trying to access healthcare services in the country (Human Rights Watch 2011;Vearey et al 2016) but little is known regarding migrants' maternal healthcare experiences.…”

“…Despite facing numerous access challenges and experiencing discrimination and abuse from healthcare providers when engaging with the public healthcare sector, existing evidence shows that non-nationals have developed ways to successfully navigate the system (Vearey et al 2016). The experiences of migrant women in accessing maternal and antenatal care within the public healthcare system are, however, poorly understood.…”

Risk entrepreneurship and the construction of healthcare deservingness for ‘desirable’, ‘acceptable’ and ‘disposable’ migrants in Malaysia

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Research on the Move: Exploring WhatsApp as a Tool for Understanding the Intersections between Migration, Mobility, Health and Gender in South Africa

“…The South African context -associated with high levels of cross-border and internal migration -makes for an ideal case study in which to explore a mobile methodology for understanding the health-related experiences of migrants in 'real-time'. South African health systems are not migration-aware nor mobility-competent, affecting access to healthcare for international and internal migrants (23)(24)(25)(26). Key populations, including sex workers and trans persons, who are known to be particularly mobile, face additional barriers to access as a result of their gender and/or sexuality (27).…”