Maternal and child health
Refugee and migrant women typically have poorer pregnancy outcomes than non-migrant women, including low birth weight babies and pre-term births. In the WHO European Region as a whole, death during pregnancy or due to pregnancy-related causes is higher among migrant women than non-migrant women.
Factors include:
- Complex childbirth issues,
- sexual assault,
- social isolation
- experiences of racism and prejudice within perinatal healthcare.
- short lengths of residency and language barriers.
Pregnancy is often the first significant contact female refugees and asylum seekers have with the UK healthcare system and is a key opportunity to engage women on a broad range of issues related to their health and wellbeing.
Between 2018 and 2023, an average of 339,000 babies were born as refugees globally per year.