op-ed – health.migration.research

Is it worth it? Addressing the calls for more data on the use of South Africa’s public healthcare system by SADC nationals

April 11, 2023 admin

Calls for more data by government officials and political parties play a central role in current discussions and debates surrounding the utilisation of South Africa’s public healthcare system by citizens of other Southern African Development Community (SADC) states. However, many of those demanding additional data often overlook or misrepresent what already exists. This happens by inflating the number of SADC nationals living in South Africa; speculating about non-citizens who utilise the public healthcare system; and, suggesting that masses of people travel here for the sole purpose of accessing our healthcare system.

How is the Corona pandemic affecting the lives of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants in South Africa and Canada?

April 28, 2020July 22, 2021 admin

People from other countries may be reluctant to present for testing or to report contacts that hold an irregular documentation status for fear of arrest. We need a blanket amnesty to ensure that all in South Africa feel safe to participate in testing and for effective contact tracing.

OP-ED: Why xenophobia is bad for the health of all in South Africa

April 3, 2020July 22, 2021 admin

To successfully address COVID-19, our public health programming must engage with everyone in South Africa, including refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants from elsewhere on the continent and beyond. We must use inclusive language in our messaging, and avoid the tendency of the state to refer to South African “citizens”—rather than to “all in South Africa”—in their COVID-19 communication. We must work collectively and without discrimination if we are to have any chance of slowing down the virus’s spread. This isn’t negotiable: it is a must in the context of COVID-19 if we are to support, as best we can, our already struggling public healthcare system (which, by the way, is not struggling due to the presence of foreign migrants in the country, in spite of popular opinion to the contrary).

OP-ED: Foreign migrants must be included in Covid-19 response

March 20, 2020July 22, 2021 admin

Urgent measures are required to ensure we include all foreign migrants – not only tourists and international travellers from high- and medium-risk countries – in our response to Covid-19. There needs to be assurance that, regardless of their current documentation status, no foreign migrant will face any sanctions when engaging with state authorities, including when seeking healthcare or being included in contact tracing. Without this, our efforts to reduce the spread of Covid-19 will fail.

OP-ED: Hypocrisy in the time of Covid-19

March 16, 2020July 22, 2021 admin

Whether the apparent lack of consideration of foreign migrants is a result of their continued exclusion in public health planning, or due to the initial cases of Covid-19 identified in South Africa being imported from outside of the African continent, is irrelevant. Perhaps the tables have turned and recognition of the ways in which international tourist travel can be associated with the spread of infectious diseases has been brought to light, challenging and perhaps even silencing, at least for now, the pervasive blaming of foreign migrants for the health challenges faced in South Africa.