Social Science and Medicine
Volume 60, Issue 9, 2005, Pages 2149-2154

Health care and illegality: A survey of undocumented pregnant immigrants in Geneva (Article)

Wolff H.* , Stalder H. , Epiney M. , Walder A. , Irion O. , Morabia A.
  • a Department of Community Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland, Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland, CH-1211, 24, rue Micheli-du-Crest, Geneva 14, Switzerland
  • b Department of Community Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland
  • c Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland
  • d Department of Community Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland
  • e Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland
  • f Department of Community Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland, Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland

Abstract

Little is known about the conditions of life and the specific health problems of pregnant, undocumented immigrants. This study describes the socio-demographic characteristics and health problems encountered during pregnancy among uninsured, undocumented immigrants in Geneva, Switzerland. A socio-demographic questionnaire was completed by 134 pregnant and undocumented women (mean age 27.8 years) who attended a free antenatal facility between October 2002 and October 2003. The first control of pregnancy was at a median of 10.5 weeks (range 5-33) of amenorrhoea. They were mostly Latino-American (78%), had a median 12 years of education but almost exclusively performed domestic work (91%) after an average residence in Geneva of 18 months. Half of the 62 mothers had left at least one child in their home country. One out of three had never had a cervical smear test and 13% were not immune to rubella. Unintended pregnancies (83%), mostly resulted from lack of contraception (70%). All but one delivery were simple, with a median maternity inpatient stay of 5 days (range 2-10). This population of undocumented, pregnant immigrants comprised mostly highly educated, young, Latino-American women living in poor housing conditions and wages below the legal minimum. The study identified the high proportion of unintended pregnancies as a major health issue. Future research should target these issues and programs addressing lack of access to preventive measures. As well as this, the specific needs of this hard-to-reach population, such as contraception advice, rubella vaccination and cervical cancer screening, should be supported. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Author Keywords

Illegal migrant Undocumented immigrants Pregnancy Switzerland

Index Keywords

health care management maternal care immigrant Eurasia South and Central America Central Europe hospitalization hospital patient prenatal care health care policy demography Europe correlation analysis health insurance follow up human economic aspect medical research controlled study social aspect Geneva [Switzerland] housing Eastern Hemisphere health program social status womens status female medical documentation Review Contraception pregnancy population research health care major clinical study adult legal aspect World health care facility medical geography illegal immigrant Switzerland social behavior health survey
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-14644425392&doi=10.1016%2fj.socscimed.2004.12.007&partnerID=40&md5=d1f7d6b0b8a0223a8b38ae7c3edd8d35
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.12.007
ISSN: 02779536
Cited by: 42
Original Language: English