Overcoming barriers to health-care access: A qualitative study among African migrants in Guangzhou, China

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Lavinia Lin, Emory University; Katherine B. Brown, Columbia University; Brian J. Hall, University of Macau; Fan Yu, Emory University; Jingqi Yang, Emory University; Jason Wang, Emory University; Joshua M. Schrock, Emory University; Adams B. Bodomo, University of Vienna; Ligang Yang, Guangdong Provincial Center for Skin Diseases and STD Control; Bin Yang, Guangdong Provincial Center for Skin Diseases and STD Control; Eric Nehl, Emory University; Joseph D. Tucker, UNC Project-China; Frank Wong, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2016-01-01
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge): STM, Behavioural Science and Public Health Titles
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2015 Taylor & Francis.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2015.1076019
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Global Public Health
• ISSN: 1744-1692
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 9
• Start Page: 1135
• End Page: 1147
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by the NIH FIC (1K01TW008200-01A3; Tucker) and Emory Center for AIDS Research (P30 AI050409; Wong and Nehl).; Dr. Hall was supported through the National Institute of Health Fogarty Center Global Health Fellows Program (1R25TW009340-01).
• Keywords: Life Sciences & Biomedicine; OUTCOMES; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; migrants; AD HOC; access to care; Science & Technology; Africa; China; health-care barriers; INTERPRETERS
• Research Categories: Psychology, Behavioral

Abstract

Guangzhou is China's third most populous city, and the region's burgeoning manufacturing economy has attracted many young African businessmen and entrepreneurs to the city. The aims of this study were to examine strategies that African migrants in Guangzhou have adopted in response to health-care barriers, and explore their perceptions of how to address their needs. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews and two focus groups were conducted among African migrants residing in Guangzhou, China. Facing multiple barriers to care, African migrants have adopted a number of suboptimal and unsustainable approaches to access health care. These included: using their Chinese friends or partners as interpreters, self-medicating, using personal connections to medical doctors, and travelling to home countries or countries that offer English-speaking doctors for health care. Health-care providers and health organisations in Guangzhou have not yet acquired sufficient cultural competence to address the needs of African migrants residing in the city. Introducing linguistically and culturally competent health-care services in communities concentrated with African migrants may better serve the population. With the growing international migration to China, it is essential to develop sustainable approaches to improving health-care access for international migrants, particularly those who are marginalised.