Informing the development of a pilot intervention to improve migrants’ healthcare assess in Brno, Czech Republic

Abstract

Abstract Background Third-country nationals have the least access to healthcare in the Czech Republic yet representing the largest group of migrants. This study aimed to inform the development of a pilot intervention to improve migrants’ healthcare access in Brno, Czech Republic, within the existing health policy framework. Methods A Metaplan© qualitative technique was applied to ensure the community participation, through separate sessions with social integration professionals and third countries nationals. Each group first identified issues in migrants’ healthcare, then suggested solutions to address these issues and prioritized these solutions. Results The professionals’ group included five representatives of social integration service providers and administrators. The majority of migrants were female, with higher education, ages 35-55 years, arrived in two years mainly from Ukraine, and not employed. The social integration professionals were more knowledgeable of healthcare policy and migrants’ rights and suggested a wider scope of solutions. The migrants underscored the role of reliable information as a critical tool in utilizing healthcare services. Both groups prioritized an open access to the information as a direct benefit to the users. Other suggestions included multilingual mobile applications, visual aids and translation services, bilingual doctors and universal access to public health insurance. The feasibility of these solutions varied and so their value as intervention models. Conclusions The future interventions should focus on health literacy in the migrant community. This would include the dissemination of multilingual information on health emergency, children vaccinations, health insurance and healthcare system, among other topics, and interactive trainings for migrants and social counselors, to improve self-efficacy in both groups.