Pregnant Migrants Research Articles

Improving the healthcare response to migrants landing in Lampedusa through a multimodal strategy.

Abstract Issue Lampedusa island is a crucial Italian entry point for migrants and the only health facility is the outpatient clinic that relies on the helicopter transfer to the mainland for urgencies. When the influx of migrants -and of tourists- increases, the health demand burden rises. Moreover, the plurality of the actors involved in migrants’ reception and assistance makes healthcare organization complex. In 2023, 115.000 arrivals were recorded with an increase of pregnant migrants transferred by helicopter; moreover, the lack of an EMTs-equipped ambulance and coordination gaps between actors were raised. Description of the practice Also paving on law 50/2023, in 2023 INMP and other institutions promoted a multimodal strategy to support healthcare in Lampedusa. A needs assessment grounded on settings and processes field observation and key stakeholders’ structured interviews was designed. Hence, an equipped ambulance service was set in September 2023 and an obstetric triage (ObT) procedure for pregnant migrants was tested. Further, operational protocols for migrants’ health have been drafted and enclosed in a MoU signed between key institutions, and a dedicated Committee monitoring protocol implementation was also set. Results Until now the ambulance has carried out 242 operations, mostly in response to community requests and ObT has led to using helicopter solely for real Ob urgencies. Also, the MoU has improved the coordination between actors, and the monitoring Committee-just settled-has already identified new priorities such as of defining a procedure for pregnant migrants requesting pregnancy termination. Lessons A multimodal strategy based on field assessment, enhancing coordination between actors and rolling-out of shared procedures has improved the effectiveness, efficiency and appropriateness of healthcare in Lampedusa, requiring a slight increase in resources. Remarkably, the healthcare reinforcing results in beneficial also for the general population. Key messages • Massive influx of migrants in Lampedusa has required strengthening health services on the island. • Evidence-based interventions based on needs assessment have improved healthcare for both migrants and the general population.

Hepatitis B infection and immunity in migrant children and pregnant persons in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The WHO's global hepatitis strategy aims to achieve viral hepatitis elimination by 2030. Migrant children and pregnant persons represent an important target group for prevention strategies. However, evidence on the burden of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection and the factors affecting its incidence is lacking. EMBASE, Global Health, Global Index Medicus, Web of Science and Medline were searched for articles in any language from 1 January 2012 to 8 June 2022. Studies reporting CHB prevalence, disease severity, complications and/or prevention strategies, including vaccination, prevention of vertical transmission and access to care/treatment for migrant children and pregnant migrants, were included. Pooled estimates of CHB prevalence and hepatitis B vaccination (HBV) coverage among migrant children were calculated using random effects meta-analysis. 42 studies were included, 27 relating to migrant children and 15 to pregnant migrants across 12 European countries, involving data from 64 773 migrants. Migrants had a higher incidence of CHB than host populations. Among children, the pooled prevalence of CHB was higher for unaccompanied minors (UAM) (5%, [95% CI: 3-7%]) compared to other child migrants, including internationally adopted children (IAC) and refugees (1%, [95% CI: 1-2%]). Region of origin was identified as a risk factor for CHB, with children from Africa and pregnant migrants from Africa, Eastern Europe and China at the highest risk. Pooled estimates of HBV vaccine coverage were lower among UAM (12%, [95% CI: 3-21%]) compared to other child migrants (50%, [95% CI: 37-63%]). A range of modifiable determinants of HBV prevalence in migrant children and pregnant persons were identified, including sub-optimal screening, prevention and continuum of care. There is a need to develop evidence-based approaches in hepatitis care for these groups, thereby contributing towards global viral hepatitis elimination goals.

Perinatal mortality among pregnant undocumented migrants in Norway 1999–2020: A register-based population study

BackgroundIrregular legal status is a recognized health risk factor in the context of migration. However, undocumented migrants are rarely included in health surveys and register studies. Adverse perinatal outcomes are especially important because they have long-term consequences and societal risk factors are modifiable. In this study, we compare perinatal outcomes in undocumented migrants to foreign-born and Norwegian-born residents, using a population-based register. MethodsWe included women 18–49 years old giving birth to singletons as registered in the Medical Birth Registry of Norway from 1999 to 2020. Women were categorized as ‘undocumented migrants’ (without an identity number), ‘documented migrants’ (with an identity number and born abroad), and ‘non-migrants’ (with an identity number and born in Norway). The main outcome was perinatal mortality, i.e., death of a foetus ≥ gestational week 22, or neonate up to seven days after birth. We used log-binominal regression to estimate the association between legal status and perinatal mortality, adjusting for several maternal pre-gestational and gestational factors. Direct standardization was used to adjust for maternal region of origin. Ethical approvalRegional Ethical Committee (REK South East, case number 68329). ResultsWe retrieved information on 5856 undocumented migrant women who gave birth during the study period representing 0.5% of the 1 247 537 births in Norway. Undocumented migrants had a relative risk of 6.17 (95% confidence interval 5.29 ̶7.20) of perinatal mortality compared to non-migrants and a relative risk of 4.17 (95% confidence interval 3.51 ̶4.93) compared to documented migrants. Adjusting for maternal region of origin attenuated the results slightly. ConclusionBeing undocumented is strongly associated with perinatal mortality in the offspring. Disparities were not explained by maternal origin or maternal health factors, indicating that social determinants of health through delays in receiving adequate care and factors negatively influencing gestational length may be of importance.

Investigating cultural conflicts in everyday self-care among Chinese first-time pregnant migrants in Australia

BackgroundGiven the fast-growing migration and globalisation trends in the last decades, women increasingly experienced pregnancy as migrants and often faced complex and unique challenges related to both migration and pregnancy in a foreign land, affecting their psychological wellbeing during pregnancy. Cultural conflicts between pregnant migrants’ home and host cultures could play a critical role affecting their pregnancy experiences and psychological wellbeing. AimsThis study aimed to explore cultural conflicts that challenge Chinese first-time expectant mothers living in Australia regarding their pregnancy self-care and their psychological wellbeing. MethodA qualitative methodology was adopted utilising interpretative phenomenological analysis. Participants were 18 Chinese-born first-time pregnant migrants in Australia. A semi-structured interview schedule focused on their pregnancy self-care and psychological wellbeing and any effects of Chinese-Western/Australian cultural conflicts. FindingsTwo psychosocial approaches were identified to explain how all the participants were psychologically challenged by self-care cultural conflicts to some extent: 1) challenging decision-making processes about self-care cultural conflicts and 2) interpersonal tension if the decisions conflicted with someone's advice/beliefs/opinions. ConclusionEmotional, cognitive, and social factors were relevant in shaping the participants’ engagement with and their experiences of various pregnancy self-care activities.

Cultural food practices and sources of nutrition information among pregnant and postpartum migrant women from low- and middle-income countries residing in high income countries: A systematic review.

Women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) may engage in a range of cultural food practices during pregnancy, including restricting or avoiding foods high in protein and iron, and foods rich in vitamins and minerals. While research has explored the cultural food practices of pregnant women in LMICs, there is less understanding of the continued cultural food practices of women who migrate to high-income countries and then become pregnant. This systematic review explores the existing research on cultural food practices and sources of nutrition information among pregnant and postpartum migrant women from LMICs, residing in high-income countries. A systematic search was conducted in April 2024 across Global Health, CINAHL, and MEDLINE, published in English, with no date restrictions. Eligible studies included those focused on pregnant and postpartum women who had migrated from LMICs to high-income countries. Studies were excluded if they comprised of non-immigrant women or did not involve LMIC participants. Screened were studies for eligibility, data were extracted, and study quality was assessed. In total, 17 studies comprising qualitative (n = 10) and quantitative (n = 7) approaches were included. In 14 studies participants adhered to cultural food practices, wherein certain nutritious foods were restricted during pregnancy or the postpartum period; three studies noted limited adherence due to support, acculturation, and access to traditional foods. Most studies (n = 10) reported traditional "hot" and "cold" food beliefs during pregnancy and postpartum, aiming to maintain humoral balance for maternal and child health and to prevent miscarriage. Nutrition advice was sought from family members, friends, relatives, healthcare providers, and media sources, with a preference for advice from family members in their home countries. There is a need for culturally appropriate nutrition education resources to guide pregnant migrants through healthy and harmful cultural food practices and overall nutrition during this crucial period. (PROSPERO Registration: CRD42023409990).

Pregnant racialised migrants and the ubiquitous border: The hostile environment as a technology of stratified reproduction.

This article explores the impact of the 'hostile environment' on racialised migrant women's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth in England, arguing that the 'hostile environment' functions as a technology of 'stratified reproduction.' First coined by Shellee Colen, the concept of stratified reproduction describes the dynamic by which some individuals and groups may be supported in their reproductive activities, while others are disempowered and discouraged. This paper locates the stratified reproduction produced by the 'hostile environment' as intertwined with wider gendered and racialised discourses around British citizenship which have been 'designed to fail' racialised residents of the UK. Drawing on interviews with racialised migrant mothers in the north of England, this paper analyses how the proliferation and intensification of immigration controls interacts with gender, race, class, and other social regimes to differentially allocate the resources necessary for a safe and healthy pregnancy and childbirth, and how this is experienced materially by pregnant migrants.

Engendering “Illegality”: Blackness, citizenship, and Dominico‐Haitian motherhood

AbstractIn 2013,the Dominican Republic's highest court ruled to retroactively apply the elimination of jus soli citizenship, commonly known as birthright citizenship. The ruling impacted more than 200,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent and culminated a decades‐long attack on territorially based citizenship in the country, which largely provided access to the children of Haitians, who make up more than 80% of the country's migrants. The intensification of anti‐birthright citizenship politics and the implementation of a host of restrictive measures since 2004 shifted focus from the male labor as the primary target of migrant control, to the “pregnant migrant.” This article examines how these policies shaped Dominico‐Haitian women's experiences of motherhood by drawing on interviews and participant observation undertaken from 2014 to 2018 in and around Santo Domingo. I argue that anti‐birthright citizenship politics target Black women's reproduction in a form of racialized violence that shares continuities with the nation's history of enslavement.

EP20.26: Maternal and perinatal outcomes of pregnant Venezuelan migrants in a Colombian institution: a cross‐sectional study

EP20.26: Maternal and perinatal outcomes of pregnant Venezuelan migrants in a Colombian institution: a cross‐sectional study

Infectious diseases in migrant pregnant women from an area of the Colombian Caribbean

Human migration is an activity that affects society in economic and political aspects and as a social determinant because of its differential impact on individual's health. To describe the situation of health and infectious diseases of vertical transmission risk in migrant pregnant women from an area of the Colombian Caribbean from 2019 to 2021. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on pregnant irregular migrants in the Riohacha and Santa Marta municipalities in Colombia. Hemogram, uranalysis, toxoplasma, FTA-ABS, VDRL, rubella, hepatitis B, HIV (TORCHs), vaginal swab, basal glycemia, and transaminases, among other paraclinical tests, were done on pregnant women. Data was arranged, tabulated, and analyzed in SPSS v.23.0. A descriptive statistical analysis with measures of central tendency and dispersion for quantitative variables, and proportions analysis was done for qualitative variables. A total of 555 clinical records were analyzed. Of the infectious agents with a risk of vertical transmission, syphilis was the most frequent with 3.6%. Regarding toxoplasmosis, 2.5% were IgM-positive. 4.2% of the pregnant women had IgG antibodies against Rubella and 2 women showed antibodies against HIV. Our results reflect the need for the implementation of educational, prevention, and detection health programs with the aim to decrease the number of prenatal infections in the pregnant migrant population for preventing fatal complications both in mothers and newborns.

Use of emergency primary care among pregnant undocumented migrants over ten years: an observational study from Oslo, Norway

Objective To compare consultations with pregnant undocumented migrants at emergency primary health care to consultations with pregnant residents of Norway. Design A cross-sectional study of consultations at several time points. Setting The study was conducted at the Oslo Accident and Emergency Outpatient Clinic (OAEOC), the main emergency primary care service in Oslo, Norway. Subjects Consultations with pregnant patients without a Norwegian identity number seeking care at the Department of Emergency General Practice at the OAEOC were identified through a manual search of registration lists from 2009 to 2019. The consultations were categorized by women’s residency status as ‘probably documented migrant’, ‘uncertain migrant status’, or ‘probably undocumented migrant’. We also extracted aggregated data for women with a Norwegian identity number (i.e. residents) presenting in consultations with pregnancy-related (ICPC-2 chapter W) conditions. Main outcome measures Manchester Triage System urgency level at presentation, and hospitalization. Results Among 829 consultations with female patients categorized as probably undocumented migrants, we found 27.1% (225/829) with pregnant women. About half of the pregnant women (54.6% (123/225)) presented with a pregnancy-related condition. Pregnant women that were probably undocumented migrants had an increased risk of being triaged with a high level of urgency at presentation (relative risk (RR) 1.86, 95% CI 1.14–3.04) and being hospitalized (RR 1.68, 95% CI 1.21–2.34), compared to pregnant residents. Conclusion Pregnant undocumented migrants were more severely sick when presenting to emergency primary care services than pregnant residents. Increased access to primary care and emergency primary care services for pregnant undocumented migrants is urgently needed.

‘Goodbye and good luck’ Midwifery care to pregnant undocumented migrants in Norway: A qualitative study

ObjectiveTo explore community midwives’ experiences caring for pregnant undocumented migrants seeking prenatal care in Norway. MethodDue to the relatively limited previous research and number of pregnant undocumented migrants we used an explorative approach through qualitative method. Ten community midwives were interviewed after snowball sampling in Oslo, the capital of Norway. The main themes emerged through a qualitative analysis of the transcripts, and meaning units were extracted. ResultsMidwives with no prior experience with pregnant undocumented migrants expressed uncertainty regarding the women’s rights. In contrast, those midwives who had had prior experience with this group, developed their own solutions and enacted certain strategies to help them without any guidelines from their employer. All the midwives found it challenging to provide follow-up care to the undocumented migrants during pregnancy and postpartum. They also expressed concerns regarding increasing challenges creating clinical trusting relationships and restrictions and practices at public hospitals. ConclusionsTo ensure adequate perinatal care, it is needed to reassure pregnant undocumented migrants free and safe care at all stages in the birth giving process. Community midwives need professional support in establishing trusting clinical relationships with pregnant undocumented migrants to reduce maternal stress and facilitate continuity in perinatal care.

Caring for a Responsible Self: Migrant Motherhood and the Politics of Reproduction

For Haitian women who live and work in Santiago, expecting a baby entitled to Chilean nationality involves recognizing their maternal bodies at different institutional levels and transforming who they are and how they care for themselves and others as migrants, workers, and mothers in a new country. Based on ethnographic research, this article examines how the pregnant body’s moral legitimacy generates a form of agency among racialized migrant workers who become mothers. Pregnant migrants’ sense of self as working mothers and migrant workers emerges from their embodiment of institutional discourses of self-responsibility and self-care as they navigate contradictory forms of recognition and belonging to the global economy and the nation’s reproduction. The experience of migrant motherhood exposes the lived contradictions inherent in the gendered politics of reproduction. By grounding the meanings of care and social reproduction in migrant selfhood, this analysis expands on the scholarship of gendered migration, and reproductive and care labor, across unequal registers of migrant and nonmigrant livelihoods.

Reproduction and the Expanding Border: Pregnant Migrants as a 'Problem' in the 2014 Immigration Act.

This article explores the construction of the UK National Health Service as a 'bordering scape', and the depiction of pregnant migrants as an especial problem, in policy documents and Parliamentary debates around the 2014 Immigration Act. Migrant women's reproductive practices have long been an object of state anxiety, and a target of state intervention. However, this has been largely overlooked in recent scholarship on the proliferation and multiplication of internal bordering processes. This article addresses this gap and contributes to conceptualisations of bordering processes as situated and intersectional, arguing that discourses and anxieties around the reproduction of the nation-state play an important role in informing the construction of the proliferating internal border. These discourses and anxieties, which are heavily gendered and racialised, interact with the specificities of individual bordering sites in shaping both bordering processes, and the production of different individuals and groups within these processes.

The global burden of perinatal common mental health disorders and substance use among migrant women: a systematic review and meta-analysis

There are one billion migrants globally, of whom 82 million are forced migrants. Pregnant migrants face pre-migration stressors such as conflict, transit stressors including poverty, and post-migration stressors including navigating the immigration system; these stressors can make them vulnerable to mental illness. We aimed to assess the global prevalence of and risk factors for perinatal mental health disorders or substance use among women who are migrants. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched OVID MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CENTRAL, Global Health, Scopus, and Web of Science for studies published from database inception until July 8, 2022. Cohort, cross-sectional, and interventional studies with prevalence data for any mental illness in pregnancy or the postnatal period (ie, up to a year after delivery) or substance use in pregnancy were included. The primary outcome was the prevalence of perinatal common mental health disorders among women who are migrants, globally. Data for study quality and risk factors were also extracted. A random-effects meta-analysis was used to calculate pooled prevalence estimates, when appropriate. Sensitivity analyses were conducted according to study quality, sample representativeness, and method of outcome assessment. Risk factor data were synthesised narratively. This study is registered with PROSPERO, CRD42021226291. 18 650 studies were retrieved, of which 135 studies comprising data from 621 995 participants met the inclusion criteria. 123 (91%) of 135 studies were conducted in high-income host countries. Five (4%) of 135 studies were interventional, 40 (30%) were cohort, and 90 (66%) were cross-sectional. The most common regions of origin of participants were South America, the Middle East, and north Africa. Only 26 studies presented disaggregated data for forced migrants or economic migrants. The pooled prevalence of perinatal depressive disorders was 24·2% (range 0·5-95·5%; I2 98·8%; τ2 0·01) among all women who are migrants, 32·5% (1·5-81·6; 98·7%; 0·01) among forced migrants, and 13·7% (4·7-35·1; 91·5%; 0·01) among economic migrants (p<0·001). The pooled prevalence of perinatal anxiety disorders was 19·6% (range 1·2-53·1; I2 96·8%; τ2 0·01) among all migrants. The pooled prevalence of perinatal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among all migrant women was 8·9% (range 3·2-33·3; I2 97·4%; τ2 0·18). The pooled prevalence of perinatal PTSD among forced migrants was 17·1% (range 6·5-44·3; I2 96·6%; τ2 0·32). Key risk factors for perinatal depression were being a recently arrived immigrant (ie, approximately within the past year), having poor social support, and having a poor relationship with one's partner. One in four women who are migrants and who are pregnant or post partum experience perinatal depression, one in five perinatal anxiety, and one in 11 perinatal PTSD. The burden of perinatal mental illness appears higher among women who are forced migrants compared with women who are economic migrants. To our knowledge, we have provided the first pooled estimate of perinatal depression and PTSD among women who are forced migrants. Interpreting the prevalence estimate should be observed with caution due to the very wide range found within the included studies. Additionally, 66% of studies were cross-sectional representing low quality evidence. These findings highlight the need for community-based routine perinatal mental health screening for migrant communities, and access to interventions that are culturally sensitive, particularly for forced migrants who might experience a higher burden of disease than economic migrants. UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR); March of Dimes European Preterm Birth Research Centre, Imperial College; Imperial College NIHR Biomedical Research Centre; and Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford.

The Problematization of Migrant Maternity: Implications of the “Passport Baby” Narrative in the Canadian Context

AbstractWithin the liberal democracies of the global north, fears associated with migrant maternity are a long-standing part of immigration politics. This article raises concerns about what narratives political and public debates on migrant maternity are mobilizing, who they are targeting, and how these narratives shape the experiences of a wide range of migrants in Canada as they access prenatal and obstetric care. The article uses policy and media analysis to examine how migrant maternity is problematized in Canada through the “passport baby” narrative alongside interview data, which illustrates how this narrative impacts the lives of mothers with a range of migrant trajectories. This article argues that this problematization relies on overgeneralizations that overlook the complexity of migration, continues to be shaped by racial discrimination and stereotypes, and results in increased vulnerability for pregnant migrants within Canada.

Pregnant Migrant Latinas at the US Border: A Reproductive Justice Informed Analysis of ICE Health Service Policy During "Zero-Tolerance".

During the Trump Administration, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Directive (11032.3) revoked the automatic release of pregnant women detained by ICE. This paper presents a policy analysis of the impact of this directive on pregnant Latina migrants. The directive is contextualized as part of the Trump Administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy that directed U.S. attorney’s offices along the southwest border in April of 2018 to criminally prosecute all cases involving illegal entry with no exceptions. Under this policy, Latin American migrants seeking asylum in the USA faced criminalization, family separation, and detention. Reproductive justice (R.J.) is the guiding conceptual framework for analyzing this policy's impact. Three case studies demonstrate the reproductive and human rights violations impacting pregnant, migrant Latinas seeking to enter the U.S. under “zero-tolerance.” This policy did not deter migration from Central and South America and created avoidable harm. Although “zero-tolerance” was rescinded in 2021, the long-term impacts remain unknown. Implications and recommendations for social work practice, policy advocacy, and social work education are provided.

Access and Adequate Utilization of Malaria Control Interventions among Women of Childbearing Age from 15 to 49 years in Badbaado IDPs Settlements, Mogadishu, Somalia

Background: Although there is limited national data and statistics on the burden of malaria in Somalia, it is considered a&amp;nbsp;major public health problem&amp;nbsp;in the country. children below 5 years, pregnant, lactating women and non-immune migrants carry most of the disease burden. the world malaria report 2020 estimated that there were around 759,000 cases and 1,942 deaths in Somalia in 2019.&#x0D; &#x0D; Aim of the study: The purpose of this study is to explore the results of a rapid assessment of the extent of current access and adequate utilization of malaria control interventions among women of childbearing age from 15 to 49 years in Badbaado IDPs Settlements, Dharkenley District, Mogadishu, Somalia. &#x0D; &#x0D; Method: This study applied a non-probability purposive sampling strategy for recruiting study participants. A total of 150 women aged 15 to 49 years old were selected, and semi-structured questionnaires were the main data collection methods. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 23 and used a P-value of 95% to assess associations between variables with &amp;le;0.05 regarded as a statistically significant.&#x0D; &#x0D; Results: The incidence of malaria among respondents was 59 cases (39.3%), of which 39 (66.1%) were mothers followed by 17 cases (28.8%) of children under the age of five years. The vast majority of 51 (63.0%) of the respondents who seek treatment confirmed that the distance from the health facility to their residence is about three kilometers or further. The majority of 39 (66.1%) of the respondents who were infected with malaria did not take the malaria medicine, while non-availability and/or non-affordability of the prescribed medicines in the clinics was the reason for not taking the medicine. Most of the respondents, 140 out of 150 of the study participants (93.3%), confirmed that they did not get any malarial services in their internally displaced persons IDPs settlements. Almost all of the respondents&amp;rsquo; household members 147 (98%) did not own insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs), reasoning that due to the lack of distribution of ITNs and the unaffordability of their costs. &#x0D; &#x0D; Conclusion and Recommendation: The study revealed a high incidence of malaria cases. However, this study recommends the government and other stakeholders should provide funding to establish IDPs settlements clinics and increase mobile teams to provide adequate and accessible public health services to combat malaria in these vulnerable populations.

Obstetric violence as immigration injustice: A view from the United States and Colombia.

In September 2020, Project South, along with numerous other organizations, released a report detailing abuses in a Georgia Detention Center - including forced hysterectomies. Whatever other factors are at play, one of them is an intrinsic connection between obstetric violence against pregnant migrants and immigration injustice. It is not incidental that these acts - in US detention centers, along the US-Mexico border, in Colombian hospitals and clinics - are being perpetrated on immigrant bodies. And it is not accidental or random which immigrant bodies are vulnerable to these violations. Understanding and confronting obstetric violence directed at pregnant migrants, though, requires reconceptualizing the nature of obstetric violence itself. In particular, we must recognize that obstetric violence against pregnant Latin American migrants in the United States and Colombia is a type of immigration injustice, a means to perpetrate immigration injustice, and a product of immigration injustice. As such, bioethicists need to collaborate with immigration scholars to resist it. After providing some background on the nature of obstetric violence and some ways it is perpetuated against pregnant migrants in the United States and Colombia, I will give a brief overview of how I conceptualize immigration justice. From there, I explain how this type of obstetric violence constitutes a type of immigration injustice, a means to perpetrate immigration injustice, and a product of immigration injustice. My hope is that this analysis motivates bioethicists throughout the Americas to engage with immigration scholars and activists to confront the issue more forcefully.

Pregnancy in United States immigration detention: the gendered necropolitics of reproductive oppression

ABSTRACT This article argues that the detention and inhumane treatment of pregnant migrants by the United States (US) immigration authorities forms part of a continuum of gendered necropolitical violence that frames migrants’ lives before, during, and after crossing the US–Mexico border. In this context, pregnancy – a uniquely gendered and embodied experience – is a rich site of analysis, a place where reproductive oppression is enacted on individual bodies as well as reproduced in rhetoric that criminalizes pregnant migrant women. This article brings together two streams of analysis by feminists of color: first, the analysis by Latin American feminists of the “war against women’s bodies” in the current phase of narcocapitalism and necrocapitalism in Mexico and Central America; and second, the analysis by scholars of gendered immigration enforcement (“crimmigration”) and reproductive oppression in the US. This transfeminist approach brings the US reproductive justice movement into conversation with a Latin American feminist critique of gendered necropolitics in the Americas, pointing the way toward a radical politics of embodied personhood and reproductive autonomy.

A feasibility study evaluating the uptake, effectiveness and acceptability of routine screening of pregnant migrants for latent tuberculosis infection in antenatal care: a research protocol

IntroductionGlobally, tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death in women of reproductive age and there is high risk of reactivation of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in pregnancy. The uptake...