La Compleja Relación Entre Posición Socioeconómica, Estatus Migratorio y Resultados de Salud

The Phenomenon of Human Migration on the Breastfeeding Practices of Migrant Women: A Scoping Review

Human migrations and different migratory flows have been as old as the practice of breastfeeding (BF). The reasons for migrating, the conditions, and its protagonists are so diverse, often constituting situations of vulnerability and risk for health decision-making at both the individual and collective levels. The relationship between BF and human migration is totally dynamic and includes multiple factors, which is why there is a need to characterize territorially its prevalence rate and variability depending on the context. The migration profiles that can be configured from factors, such as schooling, employment, the host country's health system, and support networks, among others, have heterogeneity between countries that make it necessary to identify them. This study is an in-depth review of the report on the practice of BF in migrant women. The Arksey and O'Malley method was used to perform the PubMed and SciELO searches. The search terms were "exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)," "breastfeeding," "migrant women," and "human migration," and original articles published in English, Spanish, and Portuguese were included. Of the 43 selected articles, differences were found between the various migrant groups, in variables such as socioeconomic level, education, access to health services, maternal knowledge, father factor, culture, and intention to breastfeed. The heterogeneity of the practice of BF between countries, as well as in intraregional migratory flows, establishes different protective or risk factors depending on where the phenomenon develops and its conditions.

[Characterization of the consultations of the adult migrant population in a public emergency service in the northern area of Santiago Chile in 2018]

BACKGROUND

International migration is increasing steadily worldwide. In Chile 4.4% of its population are migrants. Worldwide, emergency rooms are chosen by migrants to solve health problems.

OBJECTIVE

Characterize the adult migrant population treated in a public emergency service of the Santiago metropolitan region during 2018.

METHOD

Through simple descriptive statistics, the center's database is analyzed, keeping in mind ethical aspects.

RESULTS

13.72% of the total consultations were migrants. Of these 95.3% resided in localities assigned to the hospital; they are granted between the ages of 20 and 44 and came mainly from: Peru, Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia and Bolivia. 10.67% does not hold health coverage. Most consultations (62.33%) have a mild prognosis. The diagnoses of Chileans and foreigners within the age group of 20 to 44 years old coincide in a different order, however, migrants most frequently present respiratory, digestive and infectious / parasitic diseases.

DISCUSSION

Migrant consultations reflect mild to moderate health conditions typical of healthy people, being able to talk about the "healthy migrant effect". As the diagnoses between Chileans and foreigners coincide in the age group and socioeconomic level, it can be said that they have a similar health condition. Due to most of the migrant consultations were categorized with less severity, have a mild prognosis, lower hospitalization rates and their main destination is domicile, there is evidence that they use the emergency service as the first option facing health problems.

Immigration, perceived discrimination and mental health: evidence from Venezuelan population living in Peru

Background

The association between international migration and mental health is conditioned to several factors, and discrimination may play a significant role. Currently, Peru is one of the principal Venezuelan migrant-receiving countries in Latin America. There are around one million Venezuelan refugees and migrants in the country. This study evaluates the association between self-perceived discrimination and mental health problems in Venezuelan population living in Peru.

Method

We analyzed data from the Venezuelan Population Residing in Peru Survey 2018, a nationally representative urban sample aimed at collecting information on several dimensions of Venezuelan population wellbeing. We applied logistic regression models to assess the association between self-perceived discrimination and mental health problems. Moreover, we applied the propensity score matching method as a robustness check of our results.

Results

Of 9487 Venezuelans surveyed, 6806 included complete information. From this sample, 6.3% reported mental health problems related to fear, anger, anxiety, or stress. Logistic regression models showed that Venezuelans who perceived being discriminated against had 2.4 higher odds of presenting mental health problems than their non-discriminated counterparts. Moreover, propensity score matching models showed that Venezuelans who perceived being discriminated against increased by 3.5 percentage points their probability of presenting mental health problems compared to their non-discriminated counterparts.

Conclusions

There is evidence that self-perceived discrimination is associated with mental health deterioration in Venezuelan migrants living in Peru. Our findings are relevant in the current geopolitical context and could be useful in the decision making processes in international health.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12992-020-00655-3.

[Initial care for migrants in Chile: status of a primary health care initiative after one year of implementationAtenção inicial a populações migrantes no Chile: iniciativa em atenção primária à saúde após um ano da sua implementação]

Objetivo.

Describir las características sociodemográficas, necesidades de salud, derivaciones efectivas realizadas y evaluación inmediata de la población migrante internacional que participó en el Programa de Atención Inicial al Migrante durante el primer año de ejecución (entre mayo y diciembre del año 2016), implementado en el Centro de Salud Familiar Ignacio Domeyko, Santiago de Chile.

Métodos.

Estudio descriptivo. Se diseñó e implementó una intervención para dar bienvenida a migrantes internacionales, que contemplaba la evaluación integral inicial, el diagnóstico de situación y detección de necesidades y derivación a otras atenciones, y la entrega de información. Para el análisis se describen, por medio de medidas de tendencia central y frecuencias absolutas y relativas, las características sociodemográficas, el proceso migratorio, las necesidades de salud, el cumplimento de derivaciones a un año de seguimiento y los resultados de la encuesta de satisfacción usuaria.

Resultados.

Se inscribieron 436 personas, de las cuales asistieron 270 (61,9%). El 80% eran mujeres, provenientes en su mayoría de Perú y Venezuela. La principal derivación realizada fue a control de embarazo (32,6%), seguido de planificación familiar (30%) y servicios sociales (27,04%). A un año de seguimiento, las derivaciones para controles cardiovasculares alcanzaron 100% de cumplimiento, 97,7% para embarazo y 87,7% para servicios sociales. El menor cumplimiento en las derivaciones fue a salud mental (11,1%).

Conclusiones.

Esta intervención, pionera en Chile, permitió dar bienvenida y proporcionar información clave a la población migrante internacional, así como también realizar derivaciones basadas en necesidades de salud y promover la inserción de la población inmigrante al sistema de salud chileno.

Equity in access to high cost drugs in Uruguay

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to determine the equity in access to high cost oncology medicines reimbursed by the Uruguayan National Health System. Also, were determined the causes of access inequities.

METHODS

Different levels of access were determined by crossing epidemiological and reimbursement data with geographical distribution and number of Health System users. Possible causes of inequities were determined and weighted by Delphi technique.

RESULTS

Access of patients assisted in the public sector to bevacizumab for metastatic colorectal cancer, rituximab for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and trastuzumab for advanced HER2+ breast cancer, appears to be lower compared to patients assisted in private sector.Regarding rituximab for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and trastuzumab for advanced HER2+ breast cancer, the results seem to show less access for patients residing outside the south region compared to those living in the south region.The main barriers to get reimbursement for patients living outside southern region are the access to pathological anatomy studies, imaging and other clinical analysis. Late diagnosis appears to be the main hurdles in access to these anti-cancer drugs, for patients assisted in the public sector.

CONCLUSIONS

Equitable access to high cost drugs reimbursed by the National Health System requires policy decisions to address this issue.