The sexual and reproductive health of migrant children in sub-Saharan Africa
Citation: Kwankye SO, Richter S, Okeke-Ihejirika P, et al. A review of the literature on sexual and reproductive health of African migrant and refugee children. Reproductive Health. 2021;18:81.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: Worldwide Universities Network (UK).
What is this? In this scoping review, the authors searched for literature about the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of migrant children in sub-Saharan Africa. They restricted their searches to studies of first-generation migrants aged 0 to 18 years, published in English between January and June 2019. The authors included 22 articles.
What was found: Migrant children were more vulnerable to sexual exploitation in refugee or displacement camps that were overcrowded. Access to education services for SRH by migrant children was hindered by language barriers and cultural stigmas, especially for girls. Another barrier was female genital mutilation, even after migration to another country.
Implications: The authors of the review stated that more research on sexual and reproductive health among migrant children in sub-Saharan Africa is needed to understand vulnerabilities in this population.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discussed their findings in the context of ethnicity, gender, and age.
This summary was prepared by Isabelle Tahmazian, checked by Sneha Bhadti, and finalized by William Summerskill.