Interventions to improve migrants’ access to sexual and reproductive health services: a scoping review

Abstract

IntroductionMigrants’ access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services is constrained by several individual, organisational and structural barriers. To address these barriers, many interventions have been developed and implemented worldwide to facilitate the access and utilisation of SRH services for migrant populations. The aim of this scoping review was to identify the characteristics and scope of interventions, their underlying theory of change, reported outcomes and key enablers and challenges to improve access to SRH services for migrants.MethodsA scoping review was conducted according to the Arksey and O’Malley (2005) guidelines. We searched three electronic databases (MEDLINE, Scopus and Google Scholar) and carried out additional searches using manual searching and citations tracking of empirical studies addressing interventions aimed at improving access and utilisation of SRH services for migrant populations published in Arabic, French or English between 4 September 1997 and 31 December 2022.ResultsWe screened a total of 4267 papers, and 47 papers met our inclusion criteria. We identified different forms of interventions: comprehensive (multiple individual, organisational and structural components) and focused interventions addressing specific individual attributes (knowledge, attitude, perceptions and behaviours). Comprehensive interventions also address structural and organisational barriers (ie, the ability to pay). The results suggest that coconstruction of interventions enables the building of contextual sensitive educational contents and improved communication and self-empowerment as well as self-efficacy of migrant populations, and thus improved access to SRH.ConclusionMore attention needs to be placed on participative approaches in developing interventions for migrants to improve access to SRH services.

Gendered risks: access to and utilization of sexual and reproductive health services among young migrants in Southwestern Uganda: the role of the ‘lending a hand’ intervention

“…Bwambale et al ( 10 ) in their work with street children and young adults in Kampala note that a lack of information about where to seek need for SRH services affected younger migrants’ likelihood to seek care. Being denied access to health services and negative interactions with health care workers have also been identified as factors affecting migrants’ access and utilisation of SRH services in Africa and elsewhere ( 9 , 16 ).…”