Migration, gender and health system responses in South Africa: A focus on the movement of healthcare users and workers

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This project will examine how migration and population mobility affect the South African health system, how the health system responds and adapts as a result of migration and population mobility, and crucially, how gender intersects with these processes. It will adopt an intersectionality approach.The research will be undertaken in South Africa, a country that has historically faced high levels of migration - both inward, outward, and internal. The research focuses on mobility of patients and health workers into and out of South Africa and interactions with the public health system. It will involve the application of a range of innovative qualitative and quantitative research methods.Specifically, the research will involve examining: a) levels of migration of healthcare users and workers within, into, and out of South Africa; b) healthcare experiences of migrant, non-migrant and mobile healthcare users, and migrant and non-migrant health workers; and c) how the South African health system responds to these user and/or worker movements. Given the increasing recognition of the gendered nature and effects of migration, the research explicitly explores gender and how gender shapes the above experiences. We will develop recommendations for how the health system in South Africa, and elsewhere, could improve responses to migration and population mobility including gendered aspects.It will include an innovative method of tracking patient movement over time using social media (WhatsApp), which will generate new data on how movement by patients into and out of South Africa interacts with their health systems use. This is paired with a new quantitative analysis of existing data sets on movement of patients and health workers into and out of South Africa. Specifically, this quantitative analysis includes analysis of the Tourism South Africa border survey, and the first ever analysis of patient mobility as it is regulated under the bilateral agreements between the South African government and 11 neighbouring countries.