Social Science &
Medicine. Volume 148, January 2016, Pages 152–159

Highlights

• Migrants in the West Midlands receive less antenatal care than the general population.
• Immigration status rather than ethnicity is a key factor in determining access.
• Structural barriers mean some migrants cannot afford to travel to appointments.
• Lack of cultural health capital in migrants and professionals hamper communication.

• Antenatal care is not flexible enough to deliver effective services to migrants.

Abstract

Rapid increase in the scale, speed and spread of immigration over the past two decades has led to an increase in
complexity of populations termed superdiversity. Concerns have been expressed about impacts of the pressure that
superdiversity is said to place upon maternity services. High migrant fertility and infant and maternal mortality rates
have long been observed in diverse areas with inadequate antenatal monitoring seen as a major causal factor in migrants’
maternity outcomes. Using qualitative data from a study of new migrants’ access to maternity services in the UK’s West
Midlands region, with some of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in Europe, this paper looks at the reasons
migrants’ access to antenatal care is poor. The paper finds that contrary to earlier studies which pointed to a lack of
priority placed on such care by migrants, a combination of structural, legal and institutional barriers prevent migrant
women accessing effective antenatal care.

Keywords

• Migrant;
• Maternity;
• Antenatal care;
• Superdiversity;
• UK

Author: Jenny Phillimore