Healthcare and Immigration Vulnerability: A Global Perspective

The immigration policy has become a topic of discussion in both local and global contexts. As governments debate the impact of immigration on the political and social fronts, another aspect cannot be avoided in this conversation, healthcare. A subset of immigrants faces a greater challenge; those that are not naturalized citizens of their host country. Although the reasons for their exact status include asylum seeking, refugees and illegal immigration, one commonality amongst them is that they are a part of the vulnerable population.

Vulnerable populations are diverse group of individuals with a greater risk of developing problems and poor psychological or social outcomes .Vulnerability in essence is susceptibility to experiencing worse health outcomes due to limited health resources availability.

In this article, the author analyzes the concept of none naturalized immigration and its relationship to vulnerability in the healthcare field. In addition to this correlation, factors influencing vulnerable populations such as linguistic barriers, stigmatization, discrimination and socioeconomic status are explored.  By broadening the scope to research such undocumented immigrants in countries worldwide, the author illustrates how their presence impacts the host countries, particularly the countries’ healthcare systems and policies.

The paper further examines the case of a recent undocumented pregnant African immigrant to the United States, the predisposing factors to vulnerability, the nursing management utilizing the nursing process model and Orem’s self-care deficit theory as the theoretical framework. The implications for nursing would require advocacy for these vulnerable populations at the policy level with the goal of achieving modification of strict laws, to expand insurance coverage especially in the local community clinics and health centers.

As the population of immigrants, both legal and illegal around the world, continues to surge, it becomes imperative to make health policy changes that will benefit them, as this will affect the overall health of the global citizens.