Access of immigrant and immigrant women to the health care system in the Pomeranian Voivodeship – construction of a crosssectoral cooperation filed

Abstract

Human migration is the movement of people from one location to another. Changing the place of residence means that migrants are facing new challenges. Migration process is conditioned by various variables, among others health. Therefore, the possibilities and restrictions on migrants’ access to the healthcare system in the host country can profile the migration process. In this context, multi-sectoral cooperation is needed to create pro-migrant healthcare systems which will be to take into account the cultural and linguistic specificity of migrants and a deficit of their knowledge about the functioning of the healthcare system. Migrants need information on how to effectively use outpatient and medical services in a clinic and hospital. Since 2014, Poland has been increasingly using foregin workers to fill employment gaps in the labour market. The Pomeranian Voivodeship is one of a region of Poland to which foreigners come with the intention of taking up paid employment. In the Pomeranian Voivodeship are foreigners who do not have the relevant documents and no have health insurence due to illegal employment, but they are legally residents. There are also legally employed people who have health insurance, but they do not know how to make full use of access to the healhcare system. This text is an attempt to determine the field of cross-sectoral cooperation of Pomeranian local government, non-governmental and private institutions that support migrants in accessing Primary Health Care.