Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42491392›Full record

ReviewJournal of migration and health2026

Access to healthcare services for migrant and left-behind children: A scoping review.

Jane Spiteri, Anne Carolina Ramos, Catarina Pinheiro Mota, Egemen İpek, Viorela Ducu, Bárbara Bäckström

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of migration and health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Jane SpiteriDepartment of Early Childhood & Primary Education, Faculty of Education, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.
Anne Carolina RamosDepartment of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Catarina Pinheiro MotaUniversity of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal.
Egemen İpekDepartment of Finance & Banking, Faculty of Applied Science, Tarsus University, Mersin Province, Turkey.
Viorela DucuCentre for the Study of Transnational Families, Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences and Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Bárbara BäckströmLead/Universidade Aberta, Lisbon, Portugal.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Migrant and left-behind children experience health vulnerability that are shaped by climate change, including by climate change, including illness, displacement, and family separation, but also by the organisation of healthcare systems. This scoping review maps the evidence on healthcare services for migrant and left-behind children, with attention to health needs, service provision, barriers and facilitators to access, and gaps in care. Following PRISMA-ScR reporting guidance, searches were conducted in Web of Science/MEDLINE and Scopus for peer-reviewed English-language publications from the database inception to May 2026. After duplicate removal and two-stage screening, 35 publications were included. The evidence shows that migrant and left-behind children require a continuum of preventive, primary, specialist, developmental, nutritional, dental, mental health, and emergency care. However, access is frequently constrained by legal exclusion, documentation requirements, cost, language barriers, limited health system navigation, discrimination, mobility, disrupted continuity of care, and under-resourced services. Left-behind children remain especially under-represented, with limited evidence on preventive, mental health, and chronic care access. Facilitators include inclusive entitlements, community outreach, school provision, interpreters, bilingual professionals, culturally responsive care, health literacy support, and cross-sector coordination. The review argues that healthcare inequity for children affected by migration is produced not only by service absence, but by systems that fail to adapt to children's legal, linguistic, relational, and transnational realities. Rights-based child health policy should therefore move from episodic and discretionary provision towards universal entitlements, continuous care pathways, and integrated support that is culturally responsive, developmentally appropriate, and accountable to the lived experiences of migrant and left-behind children.

Indexed as

Child health equityHealthcare accessHealth systemsLeft-behind childrenMigrant childrenMigration and healthScoping review

Identifiers

PMID42491392
PMCPMC13377135

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.