Background: Globally, refugee women continue to face higher maternity-related risks from preventable complications during pregnancy and childbirth, partly due to high health care costs, unfamiliarity with the healthcare system, language barriers, and discrimination. Nevertheless, there is still a paucity of literature that evaluates the available evidence in the US. This scoping review delineated the body of literature on maternal health among refugee women resettled in the US in order to identify knowledge gaps in the literature and highlight future research priorities and directions for maternal health promotion.
Methods: Electronic databases were searched in PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and EMBASE from inception through July 2021. We included all peer-reviewed study designs; qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method if they reported on refugee women's perinatal health experiences and outcomes in the US.
Results: A total of 2,288 records were identified, with 29 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. Refugee women tend to initiate prenatal care late and have fewer prenatal care visits compared to women born in the US. Some of them were reluctant to get obstetric interventions such as labor induction and cesarean delivery. Despite numerous risk factors, refugee women had generally better maternal health outcomes. Studies have also highlighted the importance of health care providers' cultural competency and sensitivity, as well as the potential role of community health workers as a bridge between refugee women and health care providers.
Conclusions: The scoping review emphasizes the need for early prenatal care initiation and more frequent prenatal care visits among refugee women. Furthermore, more needs to be done to mitigate resistance to obstetric interventions and mistrust. The mechanism by which healthy migrant effects occur could be better understood, allowing protective factors to be maintained throughout the resettlement and acculturation process. The scoping review identifies critical gaps in the literature, such as the underrepresentation of different ethnic groups of refugee women in refugee maternal studies in the US. Since this invisibility may indicate unspoken and unaddressed needs, more attention should be paid to underrepresented and understudied groups of refugee women in order to achieve health equity for all.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1157098 | DOI Listing |
PLoS One
January 2025
Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia.
Colombia currently hosts nearly three million Venezuelan refugees and migrants and is home to seven million internally displaced Colombians. For forcibly displaced populations in Colombia, and especially for women, gender-based violence (GBV) poses a threat during transit and in their new homes where xenophobia, lack of accessible and adequate services, limited safe economic opportunities, and lack of information on access to services, further increase risk. The dearth of livelihood opportunities also affects forcibly displaced populations, especially women.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Migr Health
January 2025
Community Health and Prevention Department, Drexel University, Philadelphia, United States.
Migrant and refugee women and adolescents are extremely vulnerable in humanitarian crisis and armed conflict contexts. The Venezuelan crisis has unleashed the largest exodus of migrants/refugees in recent Latin American history, most of whom have relocated to Colombia. There is a scarcity of research addressing the how adverse and traumatic experiences related to violence presents mental health amidst the Venezuelan-Colombian humanitarian crisis context and how it affects communities in relocation communities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Glob Antimicrob Resist
January 2025
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Objectives: We investigated the prevalence of drug resistance mutations (DRMs) in individuals newly diagnosed with HIV-1 in Estonia in 2020 and 2022, and in Ukrainian war refugees living with HIV who arrived in Estonia in 2022.
Methods: HIV-1 genomic RNA was sequenced in protease-reverse transcriptase and integrase regions. DRMs were determined separately by Stanford University CPR Tool and HIVdb Program.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
December 2024
Tools of Empowerment for Success (TOES Niagara), Welland, ON L3B 3W7, Canada.
Social inclusion is a common goal for equitable access to resources for living, is important to health and wellbeing, and is supported by most Western or developed nations. Despite this, immigrant and refugee women continue to be excluded from social, cultural, economic, civic, and political participation during and after settlement. Most research exploring the context of social exclusion has reinforced that some groups experience greater exclusion than others in any given population, for example, immigrant women.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Migr Health
December 2024
Institute for Women's Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Background: The London borough of Camden has long been home for many refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented migrants (RASUs). Over time, it has witnessed an increase in the population of these migrant groups, accompanied by notable changes in the obstacles they encounter when seeking health services, particularly maternity care. We explore how the 'hostile environment' policies affect access to and delivery of quality maternity services for RASUs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!