Use and outcomes of maternal and child healthcare services by undocumented migrants in Europe
Citation: de Jong L, Pavlova M, Winters M, et al. A systematic literature review on the use and outcomes of maternal and child healthcare services by undocumented migrants in Europe. European Journal of Public Health. 2017;27(6):990–997.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: Maastricht University travel grant.
What is this? Undocumented migrant pregnant women and their newborn babies are a particularly vulnerable group. Existing evidence on their use of maternal and child healthcare services and the resulting outcomes may be helpful for policy makers.
In this systematic review, the authors searched for peer-reviewed studies of the use or outcomes of maternal and child healthcare services by undocumented migrants in the European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. They restricted their searches to articles published in English, German or Dutch between 2007 and 2017 and did their final search in June 2017. They included 33 articles (10 qualitative, 21 quantitative, 2 mixed methods) conducted in 10 of the 32 EU and EFTA countries: Denmark (2), France (1), Germany (4), Italy (5), Malta (1), the Netherlands (4), Portugal (6), Spain (2), Switzerland (5), UK (2), and both Germany and Italy (1).
What was found: Undocumented women tended to underuse maternal and child healthcare services; late, infrequent, or no use of prenatal care during pregnancy were commonly reported. Underutilization of health services was noted even in countries with free access to care for pregnant women and newborns. The included qualitative studies indicated that this underuse was due to fear of deportation and a lack of knowledge about legal entitlement and the availability of services.
Undocumented women often experienced worse health outcomes and an increased incidence of pregnancy complications.
Implications: Public health professionals need to work with policy makers to better adapt health systems to the needs of undocumented migrants and to reduce health inequalities.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discuss their findings in the context of place (country) of residence.
This summary was prepared by Catherine Haynes, checked by Sydney Johnson, and finalized by Helen Worthington.