Overcoming barriers to health-care access: A qualitative study among African migrants in Guangzhou, China
Author: Lavinia Lin, Katherine B. Brown, Brian J. Hall, Fan Yu, Jingqi Yang, Jason Wang, Joshua M. Schrock, Adams B. Bodomo, Ligang Yang, Bin Yang, Eric J. Nehl, Joseph D. Tucker, Frank Y. Wong.
Lin, Lavinia and Brown, Katherine B. and Hall, Brian J. and Yu, Fan and Yang, Jingqi and Wang, Jason and Schrock, Joshua M. and Bodomo, Adams B. and Yang, Ligang and Yang, Bin and Nehl, Eric J. and Tucker, Joseph D. and Wong, Frank Y.. 2016. "Overcoming barriers to health-care access: A qualitative study among African migrants in Guangzhou, China." Global Public Health 11 (9): 1135-1147. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2015.1076019
Guangzhou is China's third most populous city, and the region's burgeoning manufacturing economy has attracted many young African businessmen and entrepreneurs to the city. The aims of this study were to examine strategies that African migrants in Guangzhou have adopted in response to health-care barriers, and explore their perceptions of how to address their needs. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews and two focus groups were conducted among African migrants residing in Guangzhou, China. Facing multiple barriers to care, African migrants have adopted a number of suboptimal and unsustainable approaches to access health care. These included: using their Chinese friends or partners as interpreters, self-medicating, using personal connections to medical doctors, and travelling to home countries or countries that offer English-speaking doctors for health care. Health-care providers and health organisations in Guangzhou have not yet acquired sufficient cultural competence to address the needs of African migrants residing in the city. Introducing linguistically and culturally competent health-care services in communities concentrated with African migrants may better serve the population. With the growing international migration to China, it is essential to develop sustainable approaches to improving health-care access for international migrants, particularly those who are marginalised.Published: October 20, 2016Typ: journalArticleISSN: 1744-1692