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Perceived Barriers of Accessing Healthcare among Migrant Workers in Thailand during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has threatened health and well-being in all populations. This impact is also deepening structural inequalities for migrant workers in Thailand. Due to their vulnerability and limited opportunity to access health services, they have greater risks in...

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Autores principales: Uansri, Sonvanee, Kunpeuk, Watinee, Julchoo, Sataporn, Sinam, Pigunkaew, Phaiyarom, Mathudara, Suphanchaimat, Rapeepong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10217862/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37239510
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20105781
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author Uansri, Sonvanee
Kunpeuk, Watinee
Julchoo, Sataporn
Sinam, Pigunkaew
Phaiyarom, Mathudara
Suphanchaimat, Rapeepong
author_facet Uansri, Sonvanee
Kunpeuk, Watinee
Julchoo, Sataporn
Sinam, Pigunkaew
Phaiyarom, Mathudara
Suphanchaimat, Rapeepong
author_sort Uansri, Sonvanee
collection PubMed
description The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has threatened health and well-being in all populations. This impact is also deepening structural inequalities for migrant workers in Thailand. Due to their vulnerability and limited opportunity to access health services, they have greater risks in many health aspects compared to other populations. This qualitative study sought to examine the key health concerns and barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare access among migrant workers in Thailand through the lens of policymakers, healthcare professionals, experts on migrant health, and migrant workers. We conducted 17 semi-structured in-depth interviews of stakeholders from health and non-health sectors in Thailand from July to October 2021. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using both deductive and inductive thematic approaches. Thematic coding was applied. The results showed that financial constraints were a major barrier for healthcare access among migrant workers. These included affordability of healthcare and difficulty accessing funds (migrant health insurance). Structural barriers included some health facilities opening for emergency cases only. Insufficient healthcare resources were profound during the peak of positive cases. Cognitive barriers included negative attitudes and diverse understanding of healthcare rights. Language and communication barriers, and a lack of information also played an important role. Conclusion, our study highlights healthcare access barriers to migrant workers in Thailand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations for future resolution of these barriers were also proposed.
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spelling pubmed-102178622023-05-27 Perceived Barriers of Accessing Healthcare among Migrant Workers in Thailand during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Qualitative Study Uansri, Sonvanee Kunpeuk, Watinee Julchoo, Sataporn Sinam, Pigunkaew Phaiyarom, Mathudara Suphanchaimat, Rapeepong Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has threatened health and well-being in all populations. This impact is also deepening structural inequalities for migrant workers in Thailand. Due to their vulnerability and limited opportunity to access health services, they have greater risks in many health aspects compared to other populations. This qualitative study sought to examine the key health concerns and barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare access among migrant workers in Thailand through the lens of policymakers, healthcare professionals, experts on migrant health, and migrant workers. We conducted 17 semi-structured in-depth interviews of stakeholders from health and non-health sectors in Thailand from July to October 2021. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using both deductive and inductive thematic approaches. Thematic coding was applied. The results showed that financial constraints were a major barrier for healthcare access among migrant workers. These included affordability of healthcare and difficulty accessing funds (migrant health insurance). Structural barriers included some health facilities opening for emergency cases only. Insufficient healthcare resources were profound during the peak of positive cases. Cognitive barriers included negative attitudes and diverse understanding of healthcare rights. Language and communication barriers, and a lack of information also played an important role. Conclusion, our study highlights healthcare access barriers to migrant workers in Thailand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations for future resolution of these barriers were also proposed. MDPI 2023-05-10 /pmc/articles/PMC10217862/ /pubmed/37239510 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20105781 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Uansri, Sonvanee
Kunpeuk, Watinee
Julchoo, Sataporn
Sinam, Pigunkaew
Phaiyarom, Mathudara
Suphanchaimat, Rapeepong
Perceived Barriers of Accessing Healthcare among Migrant Workers in Thailand during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Qualitative Study
title Perceived Barriers of Accessing Healthcare among Migrant Workers in Thailand during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Qualitative Study
title_full Perceived Barriers of Accessing Healthcare among Migrant Workers in Thailand during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Qualitative Study
title_fullStr Perceived Barriers of Accessing Healthcare among Migrant Workers in Thailand during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Qualitative Study
title_full_unstemmed Perceived Barriers of Accessing Healthcare among Migrant Workers in Thailand during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Qualitative Study
title_short Perceived Barriers of Accessing Healthcare among Migrant Workers in Thailand during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Qualitative Study
title_sort perceived barriers of accessing healthcare among migrant workers in thailand during the coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) pandemic: a qualitative study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10217862/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37239510
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20105781
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