ArticleBMC public health2011
Access to healthcare and alternative health-seeking strategies among undocumented migrants in Denmark.
Article in BMC public health, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 123 citations in OpenAlex.
- Between duty and constraint: a qualitative systematic review of healthcare providers' ethical challenges and moral stressors in caring for undocumented migrants.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2026Pooled it
- Social capital in the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases among migrants and refugees: a systematic review and meta-ethnography.BMJ global health · 2021Pooled it
- Barriers and Facilitators Affecting the HIV Care Cascade for Migrant People Living with HIV in Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development Countries: A Systematic Mixed Studies Review.AIDS patient care and STDs · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Migrant Healthcare Guidelines: A Systematic Quality Assessment.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2019Pooled it
- A systematic review on the use of healthcare services by undocumented migrants in Europe.BMC health services research · 2018Pooled it
- Challenges in the provision of healthcare services for migrants: a systematic review through providers' lens.BMC health services research · 2015Pooled it
- Access to health insurance coverage among sub-Saharan African migrants living in France: Results of the ANRS-PARCOURS study.PloS one · 2018Trial
- Healthcare access among migrants in Morocco: perspectives of migrant communities, primary healthcare professionals and civil society actors.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Inequality, Trust and Fear: Migrant Healthcare During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond.Sociology of health & illness · 2025Article
- Identifying challenges and enabling factors in utilizing health care services by undocumented immigrant women: a scoping review of qualitative research.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- "No, it is not a breach of my oath because it is beyond my control; I use the policies that are in place." Ethical challenges faced by healthcare workers in the provision of healthcare to cross-border migrants in Botswana.BMC medical ethics · 2025Article
- Securing the Right to Health of Asylum Seekers: A Small-Scale Qualitative Case Study in Thessaloniki, Greece.Health and human rights · 2024Article
- Healthcare providers' advocacy approaches and ethical challenges in delivering healthcare to undocumented migrants: a scoping review.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2024Article
- Risk Factors for Non-Communicable Diseases in Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Subsidiary Protection Beneficiaries Resettled or Relocated in Portugal Between 2015 and 2020.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Undocumented migrants' access to healthcare in Sweden, and the impact of Act 2013:407.Nursing ethics · 2024Article
- Access to medicines among asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented migrants across the migratory cycle in Europe: a scoping review.BMJ global health · 2024Article
- Central and Eastern European Migrants in the United Kingdom: A Scoping Review of the Reasons for Utilisation of Transnational Healthcare.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Article
- Exploring risky health behaviors and vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases among transnational undocumented labor migrants from Bangladesh: a qualitative study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Access to healthcare by undocumented Zimbabwean migrants in post-apartheid South Africa.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAs in many European countries, undocumented migrants in Denmark have restricted access to healthcare. The aim of this study is to describe and analyse undocumented migrants' experiences of access to healthcare, use of alternative health-seeking strategies; and ER nurses' experiences in encounters with undocumented migrants.
methodsQualitative design using semi-structured interviews and observations. The participants included ten undocumented South Asian migrants and eight ER nurses.
resultsUndocumented migrants reported difficulties accessing healthcare. The barriers to healthcare were: limited medical rights, arbitrariness in healthcare professionals' attitudes, fear of being reported to the police, poor language skills, lack of network with Danish citizens, lack of knowledge about the healthcare system and lack of knowledge about informal networks of healthcare professionals. These barriers induced alternative health-seeking strategies, such as self-medication, contacting doctors in home countries and borrowing health insurance cards from Danish citizens. ER nurses expressed willingness to treat all patients regardless of their migratory status, but also reported challenges in the encounters with undocumented migrants. The challenges for ER nurses were: language barriers, issues of false identification, insecurities about the correct standard procedures and not always being able to provide appropriate care.
conclusionsUndocumented migrants face formal and informal barriers to the Danish healthcare system, which lead to alternative health-seeking strategies that may have adverse effects on their health. This study shows the need for policies and guidelines, which in accordance with international human rights law, ensure access to healthcare for undocumented migrants and give clarity to healthcare professionals.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.