Promoting primary health care access to the migrant population
Through her nursing work, Elisabete Saunite identified a need to help expats easily access the healthcare system in Portugal. They often struggle due to language barriers, which challenge both them and medical professionals.
Elisabete has just developed a pilot project to ensure the migrant population receives help. Being aware of the charities Tomorrow supports, she shared this exciting news with us first.
WORDS Elisabete Saunite
I am from Oporto, right in the centre of the city. From a young age, I enjoyed helping with translation between friends or family members from different countries. After finishing my secondary studies, I had to decide which university course to choose. I realised that my passion for helping people in difficult health situations and my ability to translate could be more useful than an international relations degree, so I enrolled in a nursing course.
During my Master’s in nursing with a specialisation in Public and Community Nursing, I learnt about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which initiated my concern about the health access for migrants and the risks for all the population if not assessed. Undoubtedly, there is an increasing need to integrate everyone regardless of skin colour, belief or language. We are all humans, and we all have the same needs to be attended to. I ask, have you ever imagined what it would be like to be in a health centre for example, in India, China or Finland and not be able to understand a word or to say what you need?
Health is a legally protected right, and respect for life means all immigrants should have access to primary healthcare; otherwise, public health may be compromised.
I arrived in the Algarve around 10 years ago, bringing in my life luggage from different clinical institutions, professional experience, chronic wound expertise and a specialisation in one of the most devastating rare chronic skin diseases in the world, along with specific education in medical law, education administration and planning and occupational nursing.
A recent qualitative study I implemented among health professionals acknowledged obstacles and difficulties in Portugal and identified an urgent need to identify strategies to promote primary healthcare access for all non-Portuguese-speaking international populations.
The movement of migrants to countries other than their own requires the host country to develop strategies and solutions to integrate them into its healthcare system. Any new measure needs to comply with the international guidelines established by all United Nations member countries in the Global Pact for Migration and the Charter of Human Rights, namely accessibility to healthcare, according to the host country’s legislation.
EKSODOS is a pilot project approved for further development by the Unidade Local de Saúde do Algarve and its ethics committee. It aims to improve the health and quality of life of migrants by tackling the challenges they face in accessing primary healthcare services and eradicating the difficulties in communication between healthcare institutions, professionals, and expats.
The pilot project has been successfully developed and tested with primary healthcare professionals, updating their knowledge about the rights and duties of the migrant population to access primary healthcare and teaching them helpful communication techniques. EKSODOS implementation works in partnership with public entities, which will contribute to its success.
Additional initiatives planned for January will seek to eliminate language barriers and enable Portuguese medical professionals and immigrants to talk and understand each other without difficulties.
EKSODOS – Public and Community Health Intervention Project
