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Discrimination as a Health Systems Response to Forced Migration

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Health Policy and Systems Responses to Forced Migration

Abstract

We argue that the health systems response to forced migration in Europe and the broader societal response reflected upon its operations are characterised by discrimination and have recreated discriminatory and infrahumanising discourses already prevalent in the host countries. We propose that the discrimination manifested in health systems response to forced migration can be understood from sociopsychological and biopolitical perspectives by considering the restriction of entitlements and access to health care and the (real or feared) unfavourable health status of migrants as rationales for discrimination through infrahumanisation. We briefly review sociopsychological and biopolitical approaches to conceptualising discrimination and provide the concepts of infrahumanisation and health-based deservingness as a point of juncture. Next, we provide the case examples of discrimination as the health systems response through hostile environments, surveillance and screening. Finally, we suggest an updated ethics of care as a possible strategy for the social inclusion of migrants in health care systems.

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Abbreviations

MIPEX:

Migrant Integration Policy Index

IOM:

International Organization for Migration

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and International Public Health, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Yudit Namer & Oliver Razum

  2. Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Canan Coşkan

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  1. Yudit Namer
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  2. Canan Coşkan
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  3. Oliver Razum
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Correspondence to Yudit Namer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Population Medicine and Health Services Research School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, Department of General Practice and Health Services Research, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Kayvan Bozorgmehr

  2. Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

    Bayard Roberts

  3. Department of Epidemiology and International Public Health School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Oliver Razum

  4. Department of General Practice and Health Services Research, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Louise Biddle

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Namer, Y., Coşkan, C., Razum, O. (2020). Discrimination as a Health Systems Response to Forced Migration. In: Bozorgmehr, K., Roberts, B., Razum, O., Biddle, L. (eds) Health Policy and Systems Responses to Forced Migration. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33812-1_11

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