Abstract
Aim
The existing studies of disease awareness among labor migrants often do not extend to tuberculosis and hepatitis, as there is limited research on factors promoting contacts with medical professionals who can serve as important sources of disease prevention information. When designing health interventions, planners need to take these factors into account, especially given that the proportion of migrant population can impact on general health situation in certain areas.
Subject and methods
Survey among labor migrants in St Petersburg (n = 150) was administered by a team of Russian and Finnish researchers. It included assessments of migrants’ awareness of HIV, hepatitis, TB and STIs; risk behavior, access to medical counseling and ranking of various sources as suppliers of health information.
Results
The results revealed considerable gender gap, with women being better informed about transmission routes and prevention methods against communicable diseases. The gap extends to information sources, yet both genders refer to medical professionals as an important source of health information. Women are also more likely to contact medical offices; availability of health insurance has limited impact in this respect.
Conclusion
Given their role as suppliers of health information, medical professionals should be encouraged to share advice with migrants. The respective shift in funding priorities to support medical professionals is advisable. Furthermore, official policies to promote voluntary health insurance, while being a positive initiative, have limited value in terms of prevention of communicable diseases as availability of insurance does not promote contacts between migrants and medical professionals.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to extend our thanks to Natalia Zaibert, Diana Mubarakshina and Viktor Chistyakov from the St Petersburg section of the Russian Red Cross for assisting us with data collection. Support provided by the St Petersburg branch of the Federal Migration Service should also be acknowledged. Funding for this study comes from the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs whose support as well as attention from Mrs Eeva-Liisa Haapaniemi, Consul for Social Affairs and Health in St Petersburg, are appreciated. At the same time, the authors bear sole responsibility for analysis and conclusions of this study.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Sergeyev, B., Kazanets, I., Ivanova, L. et al. Labor migrants in St Petersburg: disease awareness, behavioral risks and counseling by health professionals in building up prevention against TB, HIV and associated infections. J Public Health 23, 213–221 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-015-0669-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-015-0669-4