Health services for reproductive tract infections among female migrant workers in industrial zones in Ha Noi, Viet Nam: an in-depth assessment

Abstract

BackgroundRural-to-urban migration involves a high proportion of females because job opportunities for female migrants have increased in urban industrial areas. Those who migrate may be healthier than those staying in the village and they may benefit from better health care services at destination, but the 'healthy' effect can be reversed at destination due to migration-related health risk factors. The study aimed to explore the need for health care services for reproductive tract infections (RTIs) among female migrants working in the Sai Dong industrial zone as well as their services utilization.MethodsThe cross sectional study employed a mixed method approach. A cohort of 300 female migrants was interviewed to collect quantitative data. Two focus groups and 20 in-depth interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data. We have used frequency and cross-tabulation techniques to analyze the quantitative data and the qualitative data was used to triangulate and to provide more in-depth information.ResultsThe needs for health care services for RTI were high as 25% of participants had RTI syndromes. Only 21.6% of female migrants having RTI syndromes ever seek helps for health care services. Barriers preventing migrants to access services were traditional values, long working hours, lack of information, and high cost of services. Employers had limited interests in reproductive health of female migrants, and there was ineffective collaboration between the local health system and enterprises. These barriers were partly caused by lack of health promotion programs suitable for migrants. Most respondents needed more information on RTIs and preferred to receive these from their employers since they commonly work shifts - and spend most of their day time at work.ConclusionWhile RTIs are a common health problem among female migrant workers in industrial zones, female migrants had many obstacles in accessing RTI care services. The findings from this study will help to design intervention models for RTI among this vulnerable group such as communication for behavioural impact of RTI health care, fostered collaboration between local health care services and employer enterprises, and on-site service (e.g. local or enterprise health clinics) strengthening.

Prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among industrial employees in a modern industrial region in Beijing, China

“…The consultation rate was low, which was considered to be due to the reduced concern, long working hours, high costs, long distances between home and work, lack of health information, and ineffective collaboration between local health systems and commercial enterprises. [13,30] In this study, the highest prevalence for MSDs occurred in the neck, shoulders and upper back areas. In a previous study, Yu et al [8] showed that the lower back, neck, shoulders, and wrists were the most common sites for MSDs.…”

Characterize health and economic vulnerabilities of workers to control the emergence of COVID-19 in an industrial zone in Vietnam

“…The result showed that underlying health problems were common among industrial workers (Pham et al, 2019;Tran et al, 2019b;Tran et al, 2019c), with many suffering occupational diseases (Quynh Nguyen et al, 2017;Tran et al, 2016) and/or work-related injuries (Marucci-Wellman et al, 2010;Phung et al, 2008;Ratnasingam et al, 2012). A high prevalence of respiratory system problems was also reported (Chien et al, 2002). Selftreatment (without medication) was found to be the most used method when having health problems (by 28.2-51% of participants), followed by visiting commune health centers (24%) and self-medication (20.3%).…”

Sexual and Reproductive Health among Unmarried Rural-Urban Female Migrants in Shanghai China: A Comparative Analysis

“…In recent years, female migration has risen [4,15,16], and females are considered to be more vulnerable than male migrants [4]. Research indicates that most female migrants migrate to metropolitan cities before marriage, when they are between 15–34 years old [5,12,17,18,19].…”

“…Several authors report that unmarried female migrants are usually poorly educated, lack SRH-related information, and know little about self-protection. However, female migrants often hold open attitudes to premarital sex [3,15,19,20,21,22]. Unsafe sex leads to unintended pregnancy, abortions, pregnancy-related syndromes, and infectious diseases [17,23].…”