Health and illness of Moroccan immigrants in the city of Antwerp, Belgium

Abstract

This article reviews the literature on Moroccan migrants in Belgium dealing with health issues. The conclusion is that scientific research is too often (medical) professionally biased and therefore not a valid instrument to guide policy making. Complementary research based on the perceived needs of migrants is needed. Two studies are reported both based on samples of Moroccan migrants living in the city of Antwerp, Belgium. The first study is an ethnographic qualitative one ( n = 85 households, 525 individuals); the second one is more quantitative-epidemiologic ( n = 112 households, 563 individuals). The latter one is representative for the Moroccan migrant group living in the city districy of Hoboken. Findings are reported on illness, knowledge and attitudes and on illness behaviour. These findings reveal points of continuity as well as of discontinuity with similar findings in Morocco. The health care system of the Moroccan migrant groups under study is described as pluralistic and complex. It consists of three distinct subsystems: the prophetic, the humoural and the Western one. An attempt is made to draw these subsystems to a structurally based typology.