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Health Care Experiences and Perceived Barriers to Health Care Access: A Qualitative Study Among African Migrants in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China

Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health volume 17, pages 1509–1517 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Guangzhou, one of China’s largest cities and a main trading port in South China, has attracted many African businessmen and traders migrating to the city for financial gains. Previous research has explored the cultural and economic roles of this newly emerging population; however, little is known about their health care experiences while in China. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used to assess health care experiences and perceived barriers to health care access among African migrants in Guangzhou, China. Overall, African migrants experienced various barriers to accessing health care and were dissatisfied with local health services. The principal barriers to care reported included affordability, legal issues, language barriers, and cultural differences. Facing multiple barriers, African migrants have limited access to care in Guangzhou. Local health settings are not accustomed to the African migrant population, suggesting that providing linguistically and culturally appropriate services may improve access to care for the migrants.

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. Our use of the term African here is meant to include all citizens of countries on the African continent, most of whom are members of the African Union, or anybody who considers themselves to be of African origins. In so doing we do not claim cultural homogeneity across this group of people. Indeed, cultural differences, if any, between these nationalities indicated do not have any major implications in the way they are treated with regards to health care delivery in China. In fact, Chinese, whether at the government level or at individual levels tend to treat and interact with Africans as a homogenous group, especially with regards to health care (non)-delivery.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Guangzhou African community leaders, Ojukwu Emma and Sultane Barry, for organizing community events. The authors would also like to thank the African migrants in Guangzhou for their time and effort. Preparation of this article was supported in part by grants from the NIH FIC (1K01TW008200-01A3) and Emory Center for AIDS Research (P30 AI050409; Wong and Nehl).

Conflict of interest

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Affiliations

  1. Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, 1518 Clifton Road, N.E., Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

    Lavinia Lin, Fan Yu, Jingqi Yang, Jason Wang, Joshua M. Schrock, Eric J. Nehl & Frank Y. Wong

  2. Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA

    Katherine B. Brown

  3. University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Adams B. Bodomo

  4. Guangdong Provincial Center for Skin Diseases and STD Control, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China

    Ligang Yang & Bin Yang

  5. UNC Project-China, Guangzhou, China

    Joseph D. Tucker

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  1. Lavinia Lin
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  2. Katherine B. Brown
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  3. Fan Yu
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  4. Jingqi Yang
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  7. Adams B. Bodomo
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  8. Ligang Yang
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  10. Eric J. Nehl
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Correspondence to Lavinia Lin.

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Lin, L., Brown, K.B., Yu, F. et al. Health Care Experiences and Perceived Barriers to Health Care Access: A Qualitative Study Among African Migrants in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. J Immigrant Minority Health 17, 1509–1517 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-014-0114-8

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Keywords

  • African
  • China
  • Health care access
  • Health care experiences
  • Immigrants/migrants