Migration and primary healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Migration and primary healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review
 
Creator Lokotola, Christian Lueme Mash, Robert Sethlare, Vincent Shabani, Jacob Temitope, Ilori Baldwin-Ragaven, Laurel
 
Subject — migration; internally displaced people; primary healthcare; primary care; Africa
Description Background: Migration in Africa is increasing and driven by a variety of inter-related socio-economic, conflict and climate-related causes. Primary healthcare (PHC) migration on PHC service will be in the forefront of responding to the associated health issues.Aim: This study aimed to review the literature on the effect of migration on PHC service delivery in Africa and the challenges facing migrants in accessing PHC.Method: A systematic approach (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis extension for Scoping Reviews) was applied across six databases and grey literature from African universities (2010 to 2021). Data were extracted and analysed quantitatively and qualitatively.Results: A total of 3628 studies were identified and 50 were included. Most studies were descriptive or used mixed methods. Publications came from 25 countries, with 52% of studies from South Africa, Uganda and Kenya. Most migrants originated from Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. Population health management for migrant communities was challenging. Migration impacted PHC services through an increase in infectious diseases, mental health disorders, reproductive health issues and malnutrition. Primary healthcare services were poorly prepared for handling displaced populations in disaster situations. Access to PHC services was compromised by factors related to migrants, health services and healthcare workers.Conclusion: Several countries in Africa need to better prepare their PHC services and providers to handle the increasing number of migrants in the African context.Contribution: The review points to the need for a focus on policy, reducing barriers to access and upskilling primary care providers to handle diversity and complexity.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR-UOS) TEAMS
Date 2024-07-12
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/phcfm.v16i1.4507
 
Source African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 16, No 1 (2024); 10 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4507/7353 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4507/7354 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4507/7355 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4507/7361 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4507/7356
 
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Rights Copyright (c) 2024 Christian Lueme Lokotola, Robert Mash, Vincent Sethlare, Jacob Shabani, Ilori Temitope, Laurel Baldwin-Ragaven https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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