Challenges in access to health care among involuntary migrants in Germany. A case study of migrants' experiences in Oldenburg, Lower Saxony
| Author | Frida Johansson,Taylor Vaughn,Laura Vásquez,Mario Schulze,Anas Ansar |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12326 |
| Date | 01 April 2017 |
| Published date | 01 April 2017 |
Challenges in access to health care among
involuntary migrants in Germany. A case
study of migrants’experiences in Oldenburg,
Lower Saxony
Anas Ansar*, Frida Johansson*, Laura V
asquez*, Mario Schulze* and Taylor Vaughn*
INTRODUCTION
In asking asylum seekers and refugees about their experiences in the healthcare system in Olden-
burg in 2015, and a healthcare worker about her experiences with involuntary migrant groups, this
article seeks to provide insight into the effects of policies and practices on refugees’and asylum
seekers’experiences in the healthcare system in Oldenburg, an important destination for newly
arrived refugees and asylum seekers in Lower Saxony, Germany.
Asylum seekers face a wide range of challenges in their country of destination. One of these
challenges is to attend to their health needs, due to their partial or full exclusion, “from the system
of health care promotion, protection and provision that appl[ies] to citizens and authorized resi-
dents”(Willen, Mulligan & Casta~
neda, 2011: 331). Health as a multidimensional and multilevel
phenomenon can be determined by several factors, ranging from socioeconomic status to cultural
differences, all of which produce health inequalities. Health care for involuntary migrants has
become a central topic, particularly, albeit not exclusively, in terms of access to health services.
Different patterns of access to health services for asylum seekers could have lasting consequences
for the health and quality of life of this particular group. Furthermore, cultural differences may be
perceived as de-facto barriers to receiving health care for both asylum seekers and refugees. Even
within tailor-made clinics dealing with migrants in general or involuntary migrants in particular,
cultural and socioeconomic differences ought to be accounted for in order to provide an optimal
level of health care.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
According to the German Federal Statistics Office, Destatis (2016), approximately 16.4 million peo-
ple residing in Germany in 2014 had a migrant background. People with a migrant background are
defined as: “all persons who have immigrated into the territory of today’s Federal Republic of Ger-
many after 1949, and all foreigners born in Germany and all persons born in Germany who have at
least one parent who immigrated into the country or was born as a foreigner in Germany”(Destatis,
2016). However, although Germany clearly has a long standing history of immigration, the recent
* Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg
doi: 10.1111/imig.12326
©2017 The Authors
International Migration ©2017 IOM
International Migration Vol. 55 (2) 2017
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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