Maternity and Migrant Health Challenges

The increasing diversity of Handsworth due to the increased immigration, means that now social welfare providers have to design their services keeping in mind the needs of and challenges faced by immigrants in accessing these services. Migration has a major impact on maternal health. Therefore, rising migration levels in Handsworth make this research relevant. This report will be based on the HoBtPCT (Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust. The objective of the report will be the assessing of the accessibility to services by migrant pregnant women, identifying the areas where improvements need to be made in order to make services accessible to migrant women and suggesting recommendations for making such improvements.

The principal challenge faced by social welfare providers in context of immigrants, is to make the social welfare services accessible to the immigrants. Immigrants face peculiar challenges in accessing these services because of linguistic barriers or unawareness about the welfare programmes. In case of pregnant migrant women, issue becomes even more important, because outcomes in pregnancy are considered to be worse in migrant women as compared to indigenous pregnant women.

The report will focus on the following issues:

First, migration patterns in Handsworth, with the objective of assessing the levels of migration and how it will impact the provision of social welfare and health by HoBtPCT.

Second, clear referral pathways to assessment need to be provided, which can be used by the migrants.

Third, support systems for migrants, such as interpretation services for those with language barriers.

Fourth, recommendations for the redesign of services for better access to pregnant migrant women.

The report will appraise the current structure in HoBtPCT relevant to pregnant migrant women. The report will identify the key areas, which present challenges to the migrant women in accessing pre and ante natal care and treatment.