Acknowledgments The report entitled ”From Burden To Challenges: A Decade of Learning And Development – Review of Client – friendly Services for Cross-Border Migrant in Thailand” was prepared by a team of Thai researchers led by Ms Tussanai Kantayaporn who has been working in the area of migrant health in Thailand and its neighboring countries for a decade. This report is part of the advocacy activities of WHO Thailand in the area of migrant health that was undertaken in close consultation with the Bureau of Policy and Strategy, Permanent Secretary Office, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. We shall appreciate the Royal Thai government/Ministry of Public Health in their long standing efforts to accelerating the health equity to the migrant population and establishing migrant-friendly service is one among other efforts they are undertaking. This report has been made possible with the funding support from the EU and WHO through the Aid to Up Rooted Grant for Thailand (EuropeAid/129-862/LACT/TH)
Cover design and format by: Ms Nawinda Limamapar
Publisher WHO Thailand World Health Organization C/o Office of the Permanent Secretary Building 3, 4th Floor Ministry of Public Health Tiwanon Road, Nonthaburi 11000, Thailand Tel: + 662 547 0100 Fax: + 662 591 8199
FROM BURDEN TO CHALLENGES: A DECADE OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
(2004-2014)
Prepared By: Tussnai Kantayaporn Yuthapong Srivalai Supa Vittaporn Siwanart Mallik Rananan Boonyopakorn
for WHO/Thailand.
The views expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of WHO.
December, 2014
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In 2004, Thailand authorized health examinations and health insurance purchases for migrant workers (MW) from Myanmar, Lao PDR and Cambodia. This MW health insurance scheme is consistent with the universal health insurance program of the country. The two insurance schemes have a similar package of benefits; however the conditions for eligibility for MW health insurance change year to year, based on Cabinet resolutions. In addition, MW in some occupations who have enrolled in the Thai Social Security System, have faced problems exercising their rights to health benefits under that system. The Thai Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) has now developed a Master Plan to address these shortcomings and improve health programs for cross-border populations. In addition the MOPH has produced a Migrant Health Strategy to help operationalize the policy. These national guidelines aim to increase access to equal, quality, client-friendly health services for MW and their accompanying dependents through multi-sector collaboration and active participation of the migrant communities themselves. These national policy efforts have evolved in tandem with various externally-funded special projects for migrants, largely implemented by NGOs. This study reviewed various models of client-friendly health services for cross-border populations in Thailand in order address the following seven research questions: 1) What do the findings of the review of literature published during the ten years (2004-14) say about client-friendly health services for migrants in Thailand; 2) What is the European experience of client-friendly services for migrant population and how to applied to the Thai situation: 3) What are the core elements and processes of client-friendly health services for migrants which can be adapted for a model program; 4) What are the enabling factors to create successful client-friendly services; 5) What are the guidelines for assessing success of client-friendly health services from the viewpoint of the service providers and migrant clients; 6) What are gaps, challenges, and obstacles to providing client-friendly services, both from the viewpoint of the service providers and migrant clients; 7) What are the recommendations for improvements to achieve client-friendly health services for migrants? This study consumed 14 weeks during September to December 2014. The authors first conducted a literature review on relevant issues, and applied the key points to
Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
3
on-site data collection in six locations in Thailand: Samutsakorn, Ranong, Rayong, Tak (Mae Sot District), Khon Kaen and Trat (Khlong Yai District) Provinces. This study assessed health services at different levels of the system as follows: (1) Provincial and district hospitals; (2) Tambon Health Promotion Hospitals; (3) Drop-in centers for migrants; (4) Health posts or community PHC centers; and (5) Outreach health services at the community level. This study looked at prevention, health promotion, treatment and care, and rehabilitation services. Data were collected by in-depth interviews with a total of 36 key informants; consisting of 26 government officials and ten representatives of private sector organizations. This information was synthesized into discussion guides for focus group discussions with 24 migrants from Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao PDR. The preliminary results were presented to a meeting of x representatives from the public and private sector to solicit opinions, reactions, and recommendations. There is a large and increasing influx of migrants and their families into Thailand from neighboring countries. The migrants encounter the strangeness of a new culture, unfamiliar living conditions and difficulty communicating, in addition to enduring the arduous labor. This contributes to stress for the MW, especially when they become ill, since they are more comfortable with the traditional healing practices of their homeland. The principal obstacles to accessing modern Thai health care for MW and their dependents include the following: (1) Physical impediments to access services; (2) Financial barriers and lack of health insurance; (3) Cultural, attitude and lifestyle differences which clash with the Thai health system; and (4) Obstacles in the health system, which is being remodeled to better accommodate the increasing movement of cross-border populations in the region. Based on the review of the related literature, eleven components of client-friendly health services were identified as follows: 1) Attune to the diverse lifestyles and culture of the migrants; 2) Consistent with the occupations and living conditions of the migrants; 3) Proximity of health outlets to the migrant community to ensure easy access; 4) Clear communication between provider and client, both speaking and written language; 5) Non-judgmental and respects the humanity and health rights of migrants regardless their legal status; 6) Standard of service for migrants equal to Thais; 7) Affordability of the services for the migrants; 8) Similar expectations and understanding of health rights by provider and migrant client; 9) Participation and understanding of employer of migrants; 10) Participation of migrants, their family and community members; 11) Linkages between the health system of the sending and destination countries. Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
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The client-friendly health service for migrant populations is of considerable interest to countries in Europe which are also dealing with a large influx of cross-border migrants. Most of the development to accommodate the migrants is in terms of capacity-building of staff to improve cultural competency. The European countries have clear national policies and guidelines based on a foundation of health rights, non-discrimination, and sensitivity to the diversity of cultures and languages. Thailand has implemented a more ad hoc approach to client-friendly health services for migrants by addressing challenges as they emerged at the implementation level. The efforts focused on bridging the language gap with migrant clients and conducting outreach for communicable disease control. Later, a health insurance scheme for MW was introduced to improve access to health services, and this measure helped recover some of the costs of providing public health services to the non-Thai migrants. However, Thailand has put less effort into building capacity of staff to improve attitudes and cultural awareness in serving migrant clients. Much of the capacity building of government health staff has been a process of learning by doing. National policy on health care for migrants has not been as clear as that of countries in Europe who have longer experience in developing client-friendly services. The improvements toward better client-friendly health services in Thailand have largely occurred because of the close public-private collaboration between the health sector at all level and
NGOs, and the assistance they provide to each other’s programs in a positive spirit of cooperation. This has helped shape a service system which meets the needs of migrant communities and helped in the development of guidelines to achieve the indicator targets. This collaboration over the past decade has produced positive developments in establishing valued client-friendly health services for migrants. The migrant clients themselves have reported that the Thai health services generally meet their needs, but there is room for improvement in certain areas. As Thailand prepares to enter the era of greater cooperation of ASEAN community members, there will be greater exchange among countries in many areas, including the public health sector. Thus, Thailand needs to elevate the capacity of its health staff to be able to adapt to the new challenges given the anticipated increase in migration into Thailand by migrants seeking employment and those only seeking medical care. In addition to more regional economic cooperation, ASEAN plans to facilitate the movement of health professionals to and from member countries for work, and this could have significant effects on the profile of the Thai health system. This movement is also an opportunity to further develop the health care system to more fully balance the needs of Thais and migrants.
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Overall, developing client-friendly health services for migrants in Thailand primarily requires cultural competence of the Thai health providers so that they project positive attitudes, lack of prejudice, and a welcoming service for non-Thais. The culturally competent staff will be able to design a set of appropriate guidelines and standard operating procedures for providing equal services for migrants through static and outreach services which are tailored to the target population. The policies and promotion of client-friendly services should not focus only on the supply side, which enables the health system to best deliver the services, but should also be designed based on a respect for health rights and profound understanding of the target population. The following challenges remain however, with recommendations on how to meet those challenges: 1) There is a need to develop guidelines for building the cultural competency of health staff through orientation for newly-assigned staff and on-the-job training for all relevant staff on a periodic basis; 2) There should be advocacy for cross-cultural health services as an essential learning component in clinical and health staff capacity building at all levels of Thailand; 3) There is the need to design a service protocol based on core principles of health rights and client-centered care in a way that is consistent with the needs and special characteristics of the lifestyle, cultural and language of the migrants. However, the medical treatment protocol is the same standard as that for Thai clients; 4) More support is needed, both funding and resources, to maintain the DiC and/or health posts. Both are community-based health outlets which offer some of the most client-friendly health services which are convenient, comfortable and familiar for migrants; 5) There need to be enough MHW in each health facility proportional to the number of migrant clientele. There needs to be a clear position and career path for the MHW, with adequate allocation of government budget to retain these personnel over time; 6) All migrants should be covered by health insurance through a standard, annual renewal scheme with appropriate premiums and fees, and screening criteria for health exams consistent with the person’s age; 7) There need to be specific indicators of achievement of client-friendly health services for migrants by adaptation from the direct experience of the practical locations;
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Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
8) There is a need to define guidelines for mobilization of funding for health promotion and disease prevention for migrants, both those with and without health insurance, including stateless persons or those without legal travel documents; 9) The database on migrants needs to be improved, with different levels of storage and organization to make retrieval of information more efficient. These data should be used to inform plans and guidelines for outreach and static health services, and evaluation of quality of service; 10) There is a need for more effective national policy to facilitate client-friendly health services for migrants by revising the Master Plan or strategies so that they produce clear implementation plans. This will enable a unified response in all provinces in the country with large numbers of migrants. Also, there should be a policy for capacity building of existing health staff and recruiting sufficient numbers of staff. There should be more bi-lateral agreements and collaboration in health.
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ACRONYMS ACRONYMS AEC ASEAN Economic Community ART Anti-Retroviral Treatment ASEAN Association of South East Asia Nations BMA Bangkok Metropolitan Administration CHW Community Health Worker CUP Contracted Units for Primary Care DiC Drop-in Center DOH Department of Health DOTS Directly Observed Therapy Short course EU European Union GFATM Global Fund to Fight Aids Tuberculosis and Malaria HP Health Post HUG-UMSCO Hopitaux de Universitaires de Geneve – Unite Mobile de Soins Communautaires IOM International Organization on Migration MCH Maternal and Child Health MFH Migrant-friendly Hospital MOL Ministry of Labor MOE Ministry of Education MOPH Ministry of Public Health MOU Memorandum of Understanding MW Migrant Worker MHV Migrant Health Volunteer MHW Migrant Health Worker MSM Men who have Sex with Men NGO Non-Governmental Orga nization NHS National Health Security NHSO National Health Security Office OPM Office of the Permanent Secretary OPD Out-Patient Department PPHO Provincial Public Health Office PHC Primary Health Care PHAMIT Prevention of HIV/AIDS among Migrant Worker in Thailand PLHIV Person Living with HIV PROMDAN Preyveng – Rayong Operation on Migration Dynamics and AIDS intervention RH Reproductive Health
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SHIELD Support to Health, Institution building, Education and Leadership in policy Dialogue SSS Social Security System TB Tuberculosis TBA Traditional Birth Attendant THPH Tambon Health Promotion Hospital UDM Undocumented Migrant UK United Kingdom USA United State of America VAT Value-Added Tax VHV Village Health Volunteer WHO World Health Organization
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TABLE OF CONTENT ACRONYMS Executive Summary 3 Acronyms 8 Chapter 1 Introduction 11 1. Health services for cross-border migrants in Thailand 2. Aims and methods of the study 3. Limitations of the study Migrant in Thailand 1. Meaning of ‘client-friendly health service’ 2. Obstacles to accessing health service for migrants 3. Elements of client-friendly health service for migrants 4. Improvement of migrant-friendly health care Migrant in Europe 1. Development of client-friendly health services 2. Examples of the migrant-health friendly service management 3. Components that are applicable to Thailand 12 15 18
Chapter 2
Client-Friendly Health Service for Cross-border
19 20 22 24 27
Chapter 3
Client-Friendly Health Service for Cross-border
33 34 36 42
Chapter 4 Experience and Management of Client-Friendly Health 44 Service for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand 1. Overall findings 45 2. Client-friendly service approach, enabling factors and gaps 49 1. Summary 72 2. Migrant client perspective of health services 73 3. Challenges in improving client-friendly health services 75
Chapter 5
Summary, Challenges and Recommendations
71
References 81 Name list of Contributors 85 Research team and acknowledgement 87 Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
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CHAPTER 1 Introduction
CHAPTER
1
Introduction
1. Health services for cross-border migrants in Thailand Thailand is one of the countries in the world which is attempting to provide free universal health care for its residents. This initiative was launched in 2002 with the National Health Security (NHS) Law, with central management located in the public National Health Security Office (NHSO) and chairmanship of the NHS committee by the minister of public health. The key function of the NHSO is to manage the NHS fund as efficiently as possible so that all members of society have access to quality health service.1 Each year, the NHSO allocates funds to each of the Contracted Units for Primary Care (CUP) in proportion to the number of registered Thai population in the CUP catchment area. Anyone with a Thai national ID card may receive subsidized health care at the registered hospital or health center. These concepts and principles of universal health insurance have also been applied to the cross-border migrant workers (MW) from Myanmar, Lao PDR and Cambodia. The Thai Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) first establish a health insurance scheme for MW in 2001. Following public health restructuring in 2009, management of this scheme fell under the Bureau of Health Administration in collaboration with the Health Insurance Work Cluster of the Office of the Permanent Secretary (OPM) of Health, MOPH In 2004, the MOPH formally issued measures and guidelines for conducting health exams and issuing health insurance for MW. This was conducted as part of the MW registration process managed by the Ministry of Labor (MOL), and with the Civil Registration system of the Ministry of Interior. Management of the health exams and issuing of health insurance for MW was assigned to the hospitals under the OPM of Health, namely, the public regional, provincial and district hospitals. In Bangkok, the MOPH assigned responsibility for MW exams and insurance to the hospitals under the Department of Medical Services (most of which are secondary or tertiary care facilities), and the hospitals under the authority of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). Even though Thailand has established a health insurance program for MW, there are limitations in coverage since the terms and conditions are revised annually in accordance with Cabinet resolutions authorizing registration of MW. For example,
1
NHSO, 2013 Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
13
Cabinet resolutions in 2004 and 2006 stipulated the need to register accompanying dependents of MW (on the Thaw Raw 38/1 form). Accordingly, the MOPH extended health insurance coverage to include MW dependents. In years with reduced number of MW (e.g., 2009 and 2011) the Cabinet issued resolutions to increase registration of new MW and, as a result, the number requiring health insurance increased as well. In 2013, the Cabinet issued a blanket resolution declaring that all MW and accompanying dependents were eligible for health insurance. However, because the insurance was not linked with the MW registration process in that year, and because accompanying dependents were given the option of insurance on a voluntary basis, the actual number of insured MW was only a small proportion of the total eligible.
Despite Thailand’s effort to extend health and social insurance to MW, there remains a number of registered MW who are not covered by these programs. It was found that only half of the MW are working in the preferred occupations which confer eligibility for social insurance.2 Furthermore, the quota for health insurance varies from year to year depending on the MW registration policy for a given year, and this results in gaps in coverage. Also, Thailand still does not have a clear policy for insuring the non-registered MW and their dependents, leaving many migrants uncovered. Finally, having health insurance coverage does not necessarily mean that all the migrant in need will be able to access care under the system due to separate conditions and obstacles to services. For example, some migrants live in areas that are remote from a participating health outlet, the health service hours are not the same as the MW In addition, there are a number of MW who enwork hours, there are language communication tered Thailand as part of the bi-lateral Memoranbarriers, and/or there are obstacles related to trada of Understanding (MOU) between Thailand ditional beliefs and cultures of the migrants. and its neighbors, as well as other MW who have received their nationality verification and tempo- In addition to the provision of health exams, rary passports. If MW in these two groups work in health and social insurance, the MOPH, through the preferred occupations for MW they are eligi- the Bureau of Policy and Strategy, in collaborable for social insurance (as per 1990 Social Insur- tion with the World Health Organization (WHO) ance Law) with costs shared three ways by the and other relevant partners, has developed a government, employer and MW themselves. The “Border Health Development Master Plan” with a social insurance includes medical care and other geographic focus on the land border areas social benefits while working in Thailand.
2
Tussnai Kantayaporn and Siwanat Malalik, 2013
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Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
connecting Thailand with Myanmar, Lao PDR and Cambodia. The plan covers all residents of these cross-border areas, including Thais, persons awaiting nationality verification, refugees from conflict zones in Myanmar, documented and undocumented MW, and accompanying dependents and family members. The 1st Master Plan covered a period of implementation during 200711, while the current 2nd Master Plan3 covers the period from 2012-16 and contains four strategic components as follows: (1) Health service system development; (2) Access to primary health care (PHC); (3) Collaboration and participation of all related sectors; and (4) Management. During 2005-06, the MOPH collaborated with other government partner agencies, NGOs, technical experts, and the business sector to produce a draft health strategy for migrant. A significant feature of the strategy is the goal to cover all MW, including accompanying dependents, family members, infants and children, as this is a rather sensitive issue at present. The draft strategy was revised twice, in 2009 and 2013, and currently addresses the following four strategic components:4 (1) Participation of the MW and community in self-health care based on PHC principles; (2) Strengthening collaboration among partners of all sectors in the network to achieve good health status for migrant through integrated implementation; (3) Management of resources, communications system, health insurance mech-
anisms, and appropriate health care for migrant; and (4) Capacity building for organizations, data, and information technology for implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The system of health exams and insurance, the Border Health Development Master Plan, and the Strategic Health Plan for Migrant Workers all have the same goal, namely, to ensure equal access to client-friendly, quality health care for all cross-border populations, and at the same level which Thai citizens enjoy through the NHS scheme. These strategies promote cross-sectoral collaboration among the government, NGOs, businesses and employers of MW, and rely on full participation of the migrant and their host communities in striving for self-health care. These strategies are in tandem with special projects for migrant implemented by government and NGOs with external assistance such as, for example, the GFATM-funded PHAMIT Project, the USAID-funded SHIELD Project, and the EU-funded Health Security Strengthening Project. All these efforts recognize the importance of genuine access to client-friendly services which meet the needs of the cross-border clients, in the context of diverse ethnicity, language, and culture.
3 4
Border Health Development Master Plan for 2012-16, 2011 Strategic Health Plan for Migrant Workers, MOPH, 2014-17, January 2014 Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
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2. Aims and methods of the study This study aimed to study a model of client-friendly health care services for migrant living in Thailand. The study assessed the process of development and guidelines for services, achievements, factors enabling or inhibiting success of services, remaining gaps and areas for improvement. More specifically, the study addressed the following seven questions: 1) What do the findings of research, reports and other related documents produced during the ten years from 2004-14 say about client-friendly health services for migrant in Thailand; 2) What is the European experience from research, reports, and models of client-friendly services in destination countries for other migrant populations which can be applied to the Thai situation; 3) What are the core elements of good practices and processes of client-friendly health services for migrant which can be adapted for a model program; 4) What are the enabling factors to create successful client-friendly services; 5) What are the guidelines/methods for assessing success of client-friendly health services from the viewpoint of the service providers and MW clients; 6) What are gaps, challenges, and obstacles to providing client-friendly services which need to be addressed, both from the viewpoint of the service providers and MW clients; 7) What are the recommendations for improvements to achieve client-friendly health services for migrant population in Thailand? This study focused on health service outlets at the provincial, district and sub-district (Tambon) levels which have experience in developing client-friendly health services for migrant and are recognized as successful to a certain degree. The sites selected for this study come from all regions of Thailand, including cross-border locations and communities in the interior with large, dense resident populations of migrant across an array of occupations, as displayed in Table 1.
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Table 1:
Target Areas for the Study by MW Employment
Fisheries Industry Agriculture Services Samut Sakorn Samut Sakorn Samut Sakorn (Muang Rayong (Muang District) (Muang Interior District) Khon (Muang District) Ranong District) (Muang Rayong (Muang Kaen (Muang Cities District) District) District) Ranong Tak Tak Tak (Muang District) Border (Mae Sot District) (Mae Sot District) (Mae Sot District) Trad Towns (Klong Yai District) Remarks: This study did not include Bangkok given its special characteristics and structure of health services which differ markedly from other provinces; no health service sites were located in Bangkok which met the study criteria. In sum, the four principal locations for this study are Muang District of Samut Sakorn Province, Muang District of Ranong Province, Muang District of Rayong Province and Mae Sot District of Tak Province. In addition to assessing the client-friendly health services, this study examined the linkages among members of the health care network, and models of care. This study also included Klong Yai District of Trad Province to assess the level and nature of cross-border collaboration in health services between the Cambodia and Thailand. Finally, Muang District of Khon Kaen Province was also included given the presence of Lao MW in that location. This study assessed health services at different levels of the system as follows: (1) Provincial and district hospitals; (2) Tambon Health Promotion Hospitals (THPH)/ NGO health clinics operated for migrant; (3) Drop-in centers for migrant; (4) Health posts or community Primary Health Care Centers (PHCC); and (5) Outreach health services at the community level. This study covered four elements of health service: prevention, health promotion, treatment and care, and rehabilitation. This study began with a review of related literature including project, annual, and research reports with content relevant to client-friendly services for migrant. Next, the core findings of these reports were applied to the field situation through in-depth interviews with health service providers and related personnel. This information was synthesized to distil guidelines for focus group discussions with representatives of migrant communities in three locations: Myanmar migrant in Samut Sakorn (Central Region), Cambodian migrant in Rayong (Eastern Region), and Lao migrant in Khonkaen Province (Northeast Region). Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
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These data from the literature review, interviews with health care providers, and group discussions with migrant were analyzed to produce recommendations for improving client-friendly health services for migrant population in Thailand. The study issues and methods are summarized in Table 2:
Table 2:
Study Issues and Methodology Methods Liter- In-depth Focus Synthe- Meeting to ature interviews group sis and solicit opinions review with discus- quali- of public and health sions tative private agencare pro- with analysis cies working in viders MW this area*
Issues
Overview of health services for migrant population in Thailand Key features of client-friendly health services for migrant, demand for these services by the target population, and obstacles to accessing health services Past efforts and experience of Thailand in providing client-friendly health services for migrant, including gaps and areas for improvement Health friendly services for crossborder migrant in other destination countries, labor migration, and experience which can be applied to the Thai context Process and guidelines for clientfriendly health services, evaluation of success, enabling factors, and obstacles/gaps or areas for improvement Gaps and recommendations for improving client-friendly health services for MW in Thailand * This meeting was convened by the WHO-Thailand office
× × × ×
× × × × × × × ×
×
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Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
This study consumed 14 weeks during September to December 2014. Most of this time was spent conducting the literature review and synthesis of content. Next, the field work was conducted to collect information on opinions of health services providers and related personnel (on guidelines for services, achievements, enabling factors, gaps and areas for improvement) and opinions of representatives of the migrants to assess consistency with the findings from the viewpoint of the target population, including recommendations for improvement. The study team members sincerely hope that the findings accurately reflect the progress in delivering client-friendly services for migrant population in Thailand, and can serve as basis for expansion of these services in Thailand and its neighbors.
3. Limitations of the study 1) This study was conducted in locations which have already achieved good progress and have extensive experience. Thus, the identification of obstacles to implementation may have been limited. What is more, those problems that were identified have mostly been addressed by the time of this writing. 2) The health outlets that were investigated in this study did not include private hospitals which provide health services to migrants. The reason for the omission is that these hospitals are not yet part of the network of providers under the annual health insurance program, even though they were part of the Social Security System, they had not yet attempted to implement client-friendly health services to a sufficient degree to be representative. 3) The group of health service clients interviewed in this study was restricted to those who had some ability to converse in Thai, and most were Migrant Health Workers or Migrant Health Volunteers working for NGOs. They provided their own opinions and observations of the experience of other migrants they had contact with. This had the advantage of providing a broader perspective than of just a single individual, but the limitation is that these MHW and MHV are not necessarily representative of the larger migrant client population.
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Client-Friendly Health Services For Cross-Border Migrants In Thailand
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER
2
Client-Friendly Health Services For Cross-Border Migrants In Thailand
1. Meaning of ‘client-friendly health services’ ‘Services’ refers to an activity for the benefit of another person.5 This activity usually involves interaction in order to determine the needs of individuals or groups6 and to impress the client. This attribute is often called ‘service mind,’ and encompasses the concept of friendly services. These services are provided with heart, compassion, and empathy for the needs of the client. The service-minded provider thinks more of the common good than their own self-interest. The concept of tender loving care is a guideline that has spread widely in the commercial service sector, and which views services as client-centered. Providers are trained to smile and project a positive image with dedication to the needs of the client. The service should be convenient, comfortable, and impressed by clients. Heart-felt provision of services has been applied to clinical and public health care. The intent is to create a new mind-set which tries to see the person as separate from the disease. This includes viewing the client from a holistic or comprehensive perspective encompassing the physical and psycho-social dimensions of health. In some settings, this approach is referred to as ‘Humanized Health Care’ and consists of service from the heart with compassion and bliss. However, over the past many decades, clinical and public health care services have not achieved significant coverage of the vulnerable and sometimes hard-to-reach populations such as drug addicts, adolescents, the elderly, minorities, or cross-border migrants who have difficulty communicating in the host language. Accordingly, the World Health Organization (WHO) is promoting the “Friendly Service” concept 7 as a guideline to increase efficient access to health services for the hard-to-reach groups. In the past, many countries, including Thailand, have developed models of client-friendly services for adolescents in the area of reproductive health (RH), primarily by creating more positive attitudes among RH providers to help them assess adolescent opinions and beliefs about sex.8 These helped the providers to design appropriate service and other public health approaches; including prevention, diagnosis,
Office of Academic Support and Registration, Rajamangala Technical College, 2012 William Vimuktayon, n.d. 7 World Health Organization-Europe, 2010 8 EngenderHealth, 2002 5 6
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treatment, and counseling9 to help youth enjoy healthy sex lives. The youth-friendly services should be available, accessible, and equitable. In this system of services, the provider must respect and honor the adolescent client in order to build trust and confidence in the service. Services should not be rushed or provided in crowded conditions. There should be a variety of channels for accessing services to improve convenience, and the cost of care should be appropriate for what an adolescent can afford.10 From a general perspective, the definition of friendly services is services that are tailored to the needs and context of the target client or consumer,11 by-passing barriers to access, and making it easier for persons with specific health needs to be cared for.12 Thailand has been trying to advocate for client-friendly services to be the standard of care for Persons Living with HIV (PLHIV), youth or adolescents, drug addicts, sex workers, Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), and cross-border populations. These services focus on sexual health and RH and conform to the following definition:13 “’Friendly’ means equal, with the right to choose and the voice to negotiate. Friendly services must be based on the principle of rights to access through mutual respect, from the standpoint of the client and assurances of equal access.” “Friendly services are understanding, non-discriminatory, client-centered, and open to all, with respect for rights and confidentiality.” In sum, client-friendly services have the following attributes: (1) Equal service that is appropriate and safe; (2) Sensitive to the needs of the client; (3) Understanding of client, without stigma or value judgments; (4) Self-determination of the client to choose from an array of options; (5) Convenient access; and (6) Protects the confidentiality of the client.14 Client-friendly services are based on principles of open-mindedness to diversity of individuals in society. The friendly provider shows interest in meeting the needs of clients from all backgrounds, and tailors care to the specific context of the client. The friendly provider understands the special needs of the client population, protects their confidentiality, communicates in a language that is easy to understand, provides specific services that are suited for the different client groups and, importantly, has a positive attitude, free of prejudice toward the client, so that the service experience is comforting and safe.
World Health Organization, 2012 UNESCO, 2004 11 Bureau of Reproductive Health, Department of Health, 2009 12 World Health Organization, 2012 13 Raksthai Foundation, 2011 14 UNESCO, 2004 9 10
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2. Obstacles to access health services for cross-border populations Cross-border migration among countries has being occurring ever since states were formed. Common reasons for migration include political unrest, social or economic disparities, conflict, threats to life, and lack of political freedom. At present, globalization is rendering borders less significant through acceleration of travel and communication methods. Countries are developing rapidly but unevenly throughout the world. Thus, there are push and pull factors which cause migrant workers to seek opportunity both within and across countries. Thailand has a lengthy land border with Myanmar, Lao PDR and Cambodia, extending 2,202 kms.15 There are differences in socio-economic status and political unrest. Thailand is experiencing labor shortages in some sectors and this is serving as a magnet to pull lower-income migrants to Thailand from these three neighboring countries. Currently, the number of MW and their dependents entering Thailand is expanding along the country. Most of migrant population experience with the inevitable friction that arises from culture clash, different styles and status of living, language communication difficulties, and the arduousness of their work. These tensions cause stress for migrants in addition to the unfamiliar living environment. When migrants become sick, they may have different cultural traditions in how to manage illness that differ from the host country. Thus, they may not seek or understand the health care that is available to them. Generally, the barriers to access to health care for migrants can be grouped as follows: (1) Physical barriers: Lack of or shortage of health outlets where migrants live and work. The migrant may have barriers to travel to the health outlet, or the outlet is located so far away to make it impractical travel to, given the cost of travel. Migrants are at risk of exploitation or abuse during lengthy travel for health services.16 (2) Financial barriers: The cost of treatment may be prohibitive if the migrant lacks insurance. This is especially the case for undocumented migrants and accompanying dependents whom Thailand does not exempt, making it difficult for these individuals to ever obtain health insurance. Even with documentation, there are many migrants ignore to purchase the annual health or the social security insurances that are available to them. Many of them unfamiliarity of the practice of paying a premium or not seeing the need since they remain healthy. Many migrants feel that the Thai health insurance system is prohibitively complex.
15 16
National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, October, 2014 PATH and the Institute for Health Systems Development, Department of Health Service Promotion, 2005 Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
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(3) Attitudinal barriers: These include differences in cultural beliefs, practices and lifestyles between the health care provider and the foreign migrant. This can result in mutually reinforced stigma and avoidance, as exemplified by the following: ๏ Migrants living in Thailand may have beliefs about treating illness or injury that differ from Thai health and medical standards. Migrants may prefer traditional remedies from their home culture, and may delay going to Thai hospitals until the symptoms become severe. The strangeness and fear that migrants might have toward the modern Thai health system inhibits them from seeking care at the early stage of illness. ๏ Service providers may view migrants who come to live and work in Thailand as burden on the health system and, thus, the migrants are stigmatized and viewed negatively by this sector. Thai health workers may look down on lower-income foreign migrants as inferior, or are averse to them as potential carriers of infectious disease not common in Thailand. Some health workers may disregard professional ethics or legal imperatives when it comes to treating migrants who do not have legal residence status. (4) Process barriers: Legal measures related to health of migrants are addressed in migrant labor policy and national security. These measures are formulated at the central Thai government level and may not be consistent with the local context and the challenges which the migrants face. In addition, the Thai health system is designed to serve Thais primarily and cannot easily accommodate different lifestyles of the migrants. Thai health providers may not have the language skills to communicate well with migrants who do not understand Thai, and this causes confusion among the migrants about the process of obtaining the proper care. Thus, even though some migrants may have health insurance, they may feel reluctance to use it or not fully understand their rights to the insurance package. These barriers make the migrants -- especially the undocumented group -- more vulnerable to health problems in the course of migration and adapting to their new environment. This leads many migrants to seek care in the non-formal health sector, and this makes it more difficult to collect data on the illness and health status of the migrant population as a basis for planning health promotion and prevention interventions. Thus, it is imperative that Thailand should replicate the success stories of the client-friendly services for migrants to expand nationwide.
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3. Elements of client-friendly health services for migrants With the increase of the world’s population and widening income differentials between countries, cross-border migration will continue for a long time. International organizations are trying to address the growing number of migrants and their need for basic services such as health and social welfare. In Europe, for example, institutions are trying to implement client-friendly services for migrants through a ‘Migrant-friendly Hospital’ initiative, launched in 2002 in 12 countries, and endorsed by the European Union (EU) and Austria. Later, in 2004, the Amsterdam Declaration17 defined client-friendly health services for migrants as a model which is appropriate in the hospital setting to promote health of the migrant population based on an understanding of their health status, through friendly health services that are in harmony with the client’s culture and diversity. The Declaration invited hospitals in Europe to implement the model of client-friendly health services for migrants in the host country. This Declaration helped raise the status of migrant-friendly health services to become a core policy of hospitals in Europe, and to be sensitive and mindful of the diverse needs of the client. There was capacity building of the health providers and their institutions to become centers of excellence in the care for a diverse client population through acquiring cultural competence to minimize the health problems of migrants and other minority groups. This also involved promotion of health literacy18 for the migrant population so that they know how to access health care, understand the benefits of doing so, and select the appropriate health outlet for their needs. They are encouraged to apply their health knowledge and skill to their daily life to strengthen health status, prevent disease, self-care and rehabilitation. In sum, migrant-friendly health services apply both passive and active outreach to migrants, their families and communities, mindful of the barriers to access that arise from differences in lifestyle, language, culture and beliefs.19 Both the public and private health care providers in the destination country need to build their skills in cross-cultural health care to improve understanding and acceptance of diversity of the migrant population, as a basis for more appropriate services for migrants. This includes raising the health knowledge of the migrants about prevention, primary care for themselves, their family and the community. Based on the efforts to provide migrant-friendly health services in the international and Thai context, the following should be the core components of a successful
Migrant Friendly-Hospital, 2004 The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the Sociology of Health and Medicine, 2003 19 Oberoi, P. Sotomayor, J. Pace, Paola. Rijks, B. Weekers, J. &Walilenge, Y. T., 2013. 17 18
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client-friendly service across the four dimensions of prevention, health promotion, treatment and rehabilitation: 1) The service which is attuned to the diversity of lifestyles and culture: This service accepts the differences and diversity of the lifestyles and culture of the migrant population. Thai health providers will encounter to have a good understanding of multiple contexts of the migrant’s life and culture which enables or impacts on their health. This will lead to the best treatment approach and motivate the necessary health behaviors. 2) The service which is consistent with the nature of the migrant occupation and living environment: The lifestyle and living environment of the migrant differs by type of occupation. For example, factory workers tend to work in shifts, and their break periods may not be consistent with the work hours of the local health outlet. MWs who work on fishing boats spend most of their time at sea, with short periods on shore. The type of work and living environment pose different kinds of health threats and access to care depending on the nature of the job. Thus, it is necessary to understand these differences and constraints before designing a migrant-friendly health service. 3) The health outlet that is easy to access and situate near the migrant community: Often physical distance is the most important barrier to migrant access to health care. For example, MWs who work in agro-industry in rural areas may be remote from urban-based health outlets. Thus, a migrant-friendly health care system might include satellite primary care clinics closer to where migrant work to improve convenience and utilization. 4) The service in which there is clear communication between provider and client (covering spoken and written languages): Language communication problems can be an important barrier to health care for migrants, both for preventive and curative care. A migrant-friendly service should have the capability of communicating in a language which the migrant clearly understands, including signs, print material, and health advisories. This will vastly increase efficiency of the services. There should be a complete set of health education materials in the migrant’s home language to build health knowledge for themselves and their family. 5) The service which is non-judgmental and respects the humanity and health rights of the migrant, without regard to their legal status of residence in Thailand: Rights to health care is a basic human rights as declared by WHO. Thus, the migrant population should receive health care without prejudice or discrimination due to their ethnicity, nationality, religion or legal status. This is a humane and respectful service.
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6) The service applies the same standard of care to all clients, Thai and non-Thai: Even though some migrants have health insurance and benefits comparable to Thai nationals, a large number of these migrants still do not or cannot exercise their rights to care or access basic care. These migrants pay taxes to Thailand in the form of sales tax (or Value-Added Tax: VAT) when they purchase daily consumer supplies, just as Thais do. Thus, the migrants should receive an equal standard of care when they go to public health outlets. 7) The service is affordable for the migrant: This refers to the cost of the health insurance premium, which should be priced appropriately for the migrant’s ability to pay. For those without health insurance, there should be outlets to care for migrants at a payable cost, or with flexible payment plans, welfare subsidies, or other forms of assistance, such as a fund or cooperative. This is consistent with the principle of access to health as a basic human right, and should not be burdensome for the migrant client or the health care outlet. 8) The service which provider and client both understand health rights: Currently, Thailand offers two health insurance options for migrants: (1) Purchase an annual insurance policy; and (2) Enroll in Social Security with co-pays from the government and the employer. All parties in these agreements should understand the insurance benefit package, as well as obtain the services according to the package. 9) The service bases on understanding and participation of the employer of MW: The migrants who come to work in Thailand are initially under the care of their employer. Thus, there should be more involvement of the employer in assuring that their MW employees have health insurance, and reduce risk of work-related injury. Client-friendly services will only emerge when there is understanding among the employers of the rights of their MW employees, and their role in facilitating access to health insurance, and creating a safe and healthy work environment. 10) The service involves participation of the MW, their accompanying dependents and the migrant community: Participation of the migrant community can be achieved through principles of primary health care as a mechanism to promote client-friendly services. This is includes the creation of migrant volunteers and migrant community committees to increase involvement of migrants, their families and community in promoting prevention for mutual benefit. This approach supports more self-reliance in health and helps to encounter obstacles in language and cultural differences since the community migrant volunteers are bi-lingual and can improve access and understanding of the lifestyles and needs of their community.
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11) The service has linkages between the health systems of the sending and destination countries: A client-friendly health service takes a long-term view of health when care is needed for chronic illness such as tuberculosis, HIV, etc. These chronic conditions require on-going care to gain maximum benefit of the therapy. There is also a group of migrants who suffer severe illness or injury/disability from their work in Thailand and have to return to their home country. A client-friendly health service for migrants should establish linkage with the health system in the migrant’s home country, either inter-country or inter-province, in order to continue the care initiated in Thailand.
4. Improvement of migrant-friendly health care In the past, Thailand did not have a clear policy for health care of migrants. When the universal health insurance scheme was launched in 1998,20 those health outlets with a large catchment population of migrants were overwhelmed with migrants requesting free care. This problem was initially addressed by issuing annual health cards, which was later amended to include health exams and enrollment in year-by-year health insurance programs. By 2004, health insurance for MW became more regularized through the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) scheme as mandated by Cabinet resolution pertaining to illegal MW from Myanmar, Lao PDR and Cambodia. This resolution stipulated that the unregistered MW must first pass a physical exam before receiving work permits, with the goal of preventing the resurgence of TB, filariasis, syphilis, etc. In addition, the MWs were given the option of purchasing health insurance which would give them benefits similar to Thai citizens. Initially, the MW health insurance did not include a benefit for HIV Anti-retroviral Treatment (ART) and kidney dialysis. However, in 2013, the MOPH expanded coverage to include ART. This scheme was restricted to migrant allowed to enter Thailand for work under the various Cabinet resolutions for the year. In 2013 to the present, the health insurance has been extended to accompanying dependents of the MW. Addressing the needs of migrant in Thailand is complicated since the Immigration Bureau has authority over the legal authorization of non-Thais to enter, live and work in Thailand. This authority has been superseded by Cabinet resolutions on a year-to-year basis, depending on labor shortages in different sectors. There has been considerable debate about the legality of selling health insurance to unregistered and undocumented migrants, and the arrest of illegal migrants after they leave the hospital after a treatment episode. It is also indefinite that the health outlets are able to hire the non-Thai Migrant Health Workers (MHWs) to serve as liaisons for health service or not. Those questionable issues remain unclear, lack of practice guideline and officially-approved documentation from the policy level.
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Even though the MOPH has to adapt its health program for migrants in accordance with the annual Cabinet resolutions, it has formulated clear policy on how the country should manage public health care for the increasing number of migrants, and has drafted the strategic public health plan for migrant population, the master plan to address public health for border provinces, including the HIV/AIDS prevention national plan to cover Thai and migrant population. The MOPH also collaborates with NGOs who work in this area to increase options for integrated health services and hiring of MHW to bridge the language
and cultural gaps between the Thai health system and the community of migrants. This period of development of migrant-friendly health services has been a close collaboration of the central and implementation level sectors. Even though the public and private sector have different roles to play in this effort, implementation at the field level is collaborative through networking of service outlets of the MOPH and NGOs in order to achieve the shared goal of good and sustained health of the migrant in Thailand.
4.1 Client-friendly services in the public sector Past models of migrant-friendly services differed based on the different challenges faced. Most were located in areas of dense settlements of migrants, e.g., in Samut Sakorn, Tak (Mae Sot District), Ranong, and Rayong Provinces. Most services were part of a network with NGOs working with migrant groups. The emphasis of the services was on disease prevention and health promotion, and attempted to bridge the gap in access due to language barriers, inconvenient travel and service hours. In general, these outlets are trying to align the services to fit with the lifestyle of the migrant client population. The following are highlights of some of these models: 1) Creation of a separation ward for exams, diagnosis and treatment in the Out-Patient Department (OPD) specifically for migrants to improve flexibility of service and to help the service provider and recipient feel more at ease, while maintaining the same standard of care as for Thais. This migrant OPD approach has been tried in the Samut Sakorn Provincial Hospital and the Ban Mitrapap Tambon Health Promotion Hospital (THPH) in Bangrin Sub-district, Muang District of Ranong Province. 2) Production of signs about services, educational media, health maintenance handbooks and various health service signs and instructions in the language of the migrants conducted by the hospital. This activity is a collaboration of NGOs and public health outlets such as government hospitals or provincial health offices. The MOPH has produced a maternal and child health (MCH) care booklet in five languages including; Thai, Khmer, English, Burmese, and Malayu21 with the same standard content.
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Figure 1:
Three Booklets in Five Languages on MCH
Thai-Cambodian
Thai-English-Burmese
Thai-Local Malayu
3) Training and network creation among a cadre of migrant health volunteers (MHVs) to help the public health staff extend health promotion and disease prevention to the migrant community. The MHV function in a similar fashion as the national network of Thai village health volunteers (VHVs). 4) Hiring of migrant health workers (MHWs) to function as assistants to service providers in the hospital setting and community health outreach. The MHWs are bi-lingual in Thai and the language of the migrant community they work in. The MHWs have a good understanding of the migrant’s home culture and this link helps improve confidence of the migrants to get the Thai health services. The MHW helps bridge the language barrier and reduce the time it takes for the client to receive service. There are central and local curricula for training the MHW. One noteworthy example is the “Curriculum for Border Community Health Workers” developed by Tak Province. This curriculum was designed to build the capacity of persons to work at the community level and is open to anyone in the community who is interested in joining the public health team, regardless of legal status or nationality. The training provides both theoretical and practical learning through community-based modules. The training is administered by the Tak Provincial Hospital and the course is endorsed by the Tak Community College, under supervision of the Thai Ministry of Education (MOE).
21
Thai Health Promotion Foundation, 2013
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takes for the client to receive service. There are central and local curricula for training the MHW. One noteworthy example is the “Curriculum for Border Community Health Workers” developed by Tak Province. This curriculum was designed to build the capacity of persons to work at the community level and is open to anyone in the community who is interested in joining the public health team, regardless of legal status or nationality. The training provides both theoretical and practical learning through community-based modules. The training is administered by the Tak Provincial Hospital and the course is endorsed by the Tak Community College, under supervision of the Thai Ministry of Education (MOE). 5) Creation of a system of treatment monitoring, mobile clinics for outreach to migrant communities, and surveillance of communicable disease in collaboration with local NGOs. 6) Establishment of migrant health posts for remote areas to reduce barriers related to travel for health care. In Tak Province, there are health posts in nearly all the migrant communities to maximize convenient access for the migrant population in need. 7) Creation of a cadre of school-based health peer leaders which includes health training for teachers and students who are the children or relatives of migrants. This initiative includes outreach health care for foreign migrant students in remote locations, Thai-Myanmar border communities, forested areas, and other hard-to-reach sites. These populations come from a wide variety of ethnic groups, both Thai highlanders and newly arrived cross-border migrants.
4.2 Development of client-friendly services in the private sector Over the past ten years, the issue of providing health care for border and migrant populations has increased in importance. Since 2000, both Thai and international NGOs have spearheaded efforts to create migrant-friendly services -- in continuous and close collaboration with the MOPH -- to promote universal access to health care and good health among the migrants. There are numerous sub-projects under this initiative including the Border Health Program,22 projects supported by the GFATM, the Health Migrant, Healthy Thailand Project,23 The Prey Veng- Rayong Operation on Migration Dynamics and AIDS Intervention (PROMDAN), and the SHIELD
22 23
Chalermpol chamchan, and Kanya Apipornchaisakul, 2012 International Organization for Migration, and Ministry of Public Health. 2010 Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
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Project24 25 among many others. These projects use the same general approach to client-friendly services as described below: ๏ Build capacity of assistant health workers to provide tailored health services to the foreign migrants in the local community, including recruitment and training of cadres of MHV and MHW. These personnel are trained in control of malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS, and health promotion in their resident community. The nature of activities is mostly outreach for prevention and control of disease to reduce morbidity. The MHV and MHW help improve access of the migrants to the static Thai health facilities in the locality. These activities are most prevalent in the larger, densely-populated communities of migrants. Tak Province has the most advanced models of this self-help approach among migrant communities. There is a support to the ethnic Thais or migrants interested in public health aspect to study in MHW course, in order to come back to provide health care for their communities. ๏ Establish Drop-in Centers (DiC) for migrants to congregate. Initially, these DiC were intended to serve as a place for relief from work-related stress of the migrants. The DiC provided reading material, videos, and opportunities to chat with others and exchange experience and how to address common problems of migrants. After becoming accepted as a safe and convenient site in the community, the DiC is now upgraded to provide services such as cultural activities, education, and health care. For example, some DiCs are used as vaccination sites for polio prevention, as a place for support group meetings of pregnant women, and as a base of operations for the occasional visit of mobile health units of GO hospitals. ๏ Develop and strengthen the network of migrant peer educators in addition to the MHV and MHW, to assist with monitoring the health situation in their neighborhood. ๏ Develop and disseminate educational health media in the language of the migrant community (e.g., Burmese, Mon, Khmer, and Lao) with content on health rights and health care. ๏ The GFATM has supported health clinic services managed by NGOs working in densely-populated migrant communities. In these clinics, a doctor of the migrants’ nationality provides primary care and treatment, and this helps bridge the cultural and language gaps between the migrant and the modern Thai medical system. This helps ease the concerns of migrants with health problems but not enough confidence to go to Thai outlets. These clinics and migrant practitioners have close linkages with the Thai government health system.
24 25
International Rescue Committee, Retrieved on September 2014 PATH/ Thailand, March 2010
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๏ The Border Health Program and the SHIELD Project have improved the health database of migrants in collaboration with the MOPH through collection of information on disease surveillance in Ranong, Samut Sakorn, and Chiang Rai Provinces. This information provides a more complete picture of the health status of the migrant population and helps inform the design of appropriate interventions. ๏ Establish and promote linkages between the home country of the migrants and Thailand for continuing care. A good example of this is in Trat Province in which there is direct collaboration between hospitals on both sides of the Thai-Cambodian border. For example, this cross-border collaboration has helped to ensure that migrant PLHIV do not have to interrupt their ART when going back and forth between Cambodia and Thailand. So far, this collaboration has been facilitated by NGOs as there are no formal bi-lateral government agreements in this area yet. Providing client-friendly health services by government, domestic and international NGOs emphasize health promotion, disease prevention, care and treatment. The aim is to increase access to health services for the migrants by improving convenience and safety. This approach is built upon full participation of the migrants themselves in looking after their own health and that of their accompanying relatives and peers. The more advanced efforts in this area are in the densely-populated migrant communities or where there are specific, acute health challenges. The models and guidelines for providing client-friendly services described above still do not cover all the migrant communities in Thailand. In addition, many of these activities are supported by external funding with limited time frames. Thus, finding ways to sustain the more successful models of client-friendly services is a challenge for Thailand today that needs attention, especially in the context of increasing a labor demand in Thailand, to appropriately meet the needs of both Thai and migrant populations.
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Client-friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant Populations in Europe
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER
3
Client-friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant Populations in Europe
1. Development of client-friendly health services Ever since approximately 1977, the countries of Europe have given more and more attention to providing services and access to health care for foreign migrants and ethnic minorities. The International Organization on Migration (IOM) has defined cross-border population as persons who live or work in a foreign country.26 The client-friendly services are designed to be sensitive to the culture of the migrant, and build capacity of providers to deliver care and treatment that is consistent with the culture of the target population. By 2007, health services for cross-border populations and ethinic minorities had evolved to a more comprehensive service with greater participation of the target population communities27 to increase access to these improved health services. There are numerous obstacles to accessing health services by migrant populations and ethnic minorities in Europe, including legal status, language and socio-cultural barriers, the relatively high cost of care compared to migrant income as well as cost to pay in the country of origin. The cross-border migrants have a different perception of illness and treatment and unfamiliarity with health care system in the destination country, including lack information on their basic health rights A 2012 study of good practices in migrant health care in Europe recommended that28each country should be able to provide universal access to health care for all residents, including cross-border populations. Governments need to legalize the rights of cross-border populations to health care on a par with their own citizens. At present, there are only five countries29 doing so: France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. These countries provide equal access to care regardless of the client’s resident, immigration or refugee status. Undocumented migrants can obtain health care in these countries for free or with a small co-payment. All that is needed is some proof of identity, such as document on nationality or residency.30
IOM:information accessed in April, 2014 WHO regional Office for Europe, 2010:information accessed in August,2014 28 Philipa Mladovsky, David Ingleby, Martin Mckee and Bernd Rechel, 2012 29 Sonja Novak-Zezula and Ursular Karl-Trummer, 2011 30 Bjorngren-Cuadra, C. and Cattacin, S., 2000 26 27
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During 2003-05, The Europe countries have implemented the Migrant-friendly Hospital Project (MFH)31, and summarized the lessons learned and recommendations32 the components of good practice in migrant health as follows: 1) The structure and services of the health outlet is flexible and adaptable. The policy and guidelines for health services should be tailored to the context of the target population, including hours of service and provision of adequate supplies and equipment; 2) There is a translation service to reduce communication barriers between client and provider; 3) The accompanying family members of the migrants are involved in the care process, along with social service alliances in the migrant community; 4) There is dissemination of information about health rights, the health system, and how to access care in an easy-to-understand language and, ideally, in the national language of the migrant populations; 5) There is capacity building of the health service providers so that they are knowledgeable, attentive to, and skilled in cross-cultural communication that is consistent with the context and needs of the migrant populations; 6) There is relationship-building and positive attitudes between the health service provider and the migrant clientele; and 7) There is improved operating procedures and clear guidelines for clinical care for the cross-border populations. To overcome the various obstacles to access, many countries in Europe have started studying and developing models to improve health programs at all levels of the system. The main focus is to find the balance between supply and demand sides, which are the needs of the migrant population and the ability of the integrated health service system to meet those needs.33 Needs of the migrant population: This consists of disseminating information on health services system and health rights, should use migrants who live and familiar with migrants’ community and speak the same language to be health www.mfh-eu.net Stefan Priebe et al, 2011 33 Fernandes, A. and Pereira Miguel, J. (eds), 2009 31 32
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promoters or educators to facilitate in access to the formal health care system. This includes developing alternative measures to access to health services, e.g., through registration for health insurance. Development of the health care system: This is important to improve access and to provide health services which are culturally sensitivity to the migrant population. This may require more measures of the existing health system such as in-service training of providers in cross-cultural health services, developing guidelines and procedures for migrant-friendly services, recruiting language interpreters, as well as improving the migrant health database.
2. Examples of migrant-friendly health services management There are many good practices of the client-friendly health services for migrant populations. Most of them have implemented in public hospitals and NGOs in a number of countries in Europe34 as the following features: 1) Good client-friendly health services for migrant populations have cultural mediators or bi-lingual, cross-cultural facilitators to reduce communication obstacles in the health care setting. These staff assists the health service provider and migrant client to identify their health needs, symptoms, cause of condition, and treatment plan. This also improves health education on care and prevention after the client returns home. These mediators usually come from the cross-border population’s community and also have a familiarity with the health system. 2) Good migrant friendly health services create full-time positions, and establish a hiring process to have translators and cross-cultural facilitators, with training and capacity building to maximize efficiency of operations. 3) There is communication to promote and create understanding about the health system and rights to health care in the national language of the migrant population, disseminated through channels that are appropriate for the cultural context of the migrant populations. 4) There is an on-going program of capacity building on cultural competency for the health care providers so that they are up-to-date on meeting the health needs of the diverse populations. 5) Client-friendly health services provide health services that are flexible to accommodate the lifestyles and work hours of the migrant populations.
34
Sonja Novak-Zezula, Ursular Karl-Trummer, 2554 Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
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6) There are community-based outlets such as Drop-in Center (DiC), operated in collaboration with local agencies, Civil Society, or NGOs, to work closely with the migrant population. Usually, these DiC have community health workers or health promotion officers who are recruited from the local migrant community. Examples of health services for migrant populations of different countries in the Europe Union
1) Ireland Ireland has a large number of migrants who have come to work and/or live from many countries such as Mauritius, China, Ukraine, etc.,. In 2007, the Irish government announced the National Intercultural Health Strategy which guidelines for improving health service outlets to provide a more comprehensive service, increase access and demonstrate sensitivity to cultural differences of the migrant populations by eliminating discrimination toward migrants, and implementing improvements such as the following: ๏ Building capacity of the health care providers and other personnel in effective cross-cultural interaction, improving attitudes regarding social class, and eliminating stigma and discrimination; ๏ Improving the referral system in the secondary and tertiary care levels; ๏ Assigning interpreters at all levels of the health system and in the community; ๏ Improving the production of educational media with content appropriate to the culture and language of the migrant populations and disseminated through a variety of channels that fit with their communication norms; ๏ Developing the health database of the local migrant populations; ๏ Developing various health research and studies about the migrant populations; ๏ Collaborating with NGOs in the design and enhancement of health prevention and health services; ๏ Conducting the health impact assessment as a result of migration, including consequence from improvements in the health system; ๏ Making more use of groups with the same culture and language as the target client population to serve as health promoters; and
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๏ Promoting peer approach to enhance participation of the migrant community in sharing health information and decision making to seek appropriate health services
2) Switzerland Switzerland currently provides friendly health services for migrant populations adopting the policy of equal standard of services for disadvantaged populations. There are categorized in three measures as following: ๏ Services which are integrated into public hospital; The HUG-UMSCO35 (Hopitaux de Universitaires de Geneve: HUG – Unite Mobile de Soins Communautaires (UMSCO) is a prime model of health care for marginalized groups, including undocumented migrants (UDM). This model enables clients to access services through the routine services of the University hospital in Geneva. The government subsidizes the cost of care for UDM. An assessment of the program after a period of implementation found that a key factor of success was the capacity building of staff, on-going training and conducting research which had resulted in creating mutual trust among the client population. The hospital was able to modify services to tailor them to the needs and culture of the clientele. The service is holistic in addressing the physical and psycho-social needs of the client, from the context of the client. ๏ Switzerland has DiCs and outreach which are implemented by NGOs which facilitates access to care, treatment and prevention, including social and legal counseling services. Some DiCs have clinicians on-site to provide primary care for minor injury or illness, with no-cost referral if necessary to a higher-level facility. The DiC staff serve as advocates for migrant clients to get the health insurance or enroll to the financial aid if they need financial assistance in covering medical care costs. A key component of success of this model is the team of practitioners and comprehensive integration of efficient services. Members of the team receive capacity building in cross-cultural communication with the diverse clientele, including active listening skills when interacting with the migrant clientele. ๏ There are migrant friendly hospitals project, paricipaing hospitals received a staff capacity building on cultural competency and placement of interpreters in the care setting to facilitate provider-client communication. ๏ The public hospitals in Switzerland provide the co-payment for care for lower-income migrants to help bridge the financial gap 35
Chantal Wyssmuller and Denise Efionayi-Mader, 2011 Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand
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3) Spain Spain has a federal system of government with a sizable number of cross-border migrants (2nd largest migrant per capita in Europe36). The autonomous units of the country implement different systems of care including the following examples of client-friendly health services: ๏ Health outlets in Valencia provide interpreter service at no charge to the client, and capacity building of personnel to develop the service delivery, including guidelines and procedures for care and treatment of migrant populations in particular; ๏ Catalonia achieves superior care through an extensive health database system for cross-border populations. The database includes health service statistics which help inform improvements to the services so that they more fully meet the needs of the migrants.
4) Other countries The following table describes efforts by other countries in Europe to establish client-friendly health services for migrant populations: of client-friendly health services for migrant Table 3: Examples populations in various settings of countries in Europe. Delivery of client-friendly services The Netherlands Institute for Health promotion and Diseases Prevention has Netherlands developed a mechanism to employ migrant population or ethnic groups to delivery health information, as well as to interpreter language and cultural in hospitals37 Under the Plan for the Integration of Immigrants 2007-2009, Health staff are on the topics in relation to laws and rights of the migrant population. The Portugal trained implementation includes telephone service for language interpretation for public and private hosptals, and outreach health service in migrant communities38 Government agencies are coordinating to implement a policy to provide health and welfare for migrant populations, asylum seekers and others. National law Sweden social was issued that all migrants who had lived initially 2-5 years in Sweden, are entitled to have full access to interpreter if needed when attending health services.39 Country
Eurostat Newsrelease, 2013 Philipa Mladovsky, 2011 38 Fonseca et al. 2009 39 Philipa Mladovsky, 2554 36 37
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Norway
Germany United Kingdom
The government has provided migrant friendly services in health care system including interpretation services, delivering cultural competency training for health staff and other groups of personnel, and support in religion ceremony if required by migrant, in hospitals. The National Integration Plan in 2007 mandates all GOs to set up the relevant projects to reduce obstacles in accessing to health services. This plan also demand all GOs to provision of information dissemination services in culturally appropriate and relevant to migrant needs. The UK has gradually endeavor to improve health services to accommodate the needs of migrant populations such as health screening, diagnosis of mental health problems, reproductive health, Maternal and Child Health, including interpreter service at those clinical settings.
Besides migrant friendly health service implementing in Europe, The USA experiences also has been reviewed. The USA has a large immigrant population and is pursuing community mobilization stratgegies to increase participation of the migrants in health care, similar to the Thai system of community health worker. The migrant’s participation aims to increase access and build up confidence in the formal health service system. These intermediate personnel serve as a bridge and make the services more client-friendly. It apparently found that the migrant community health worker is one of successful factors to establish the client-friendly services, and to increase access to health services for migrants in USA.40 Capacity building to strengthen cultural competency Practicing cultural competence is an integral part of client-friendly health services. This principle has spread widely to include countries in Europe, Australia and the US. The purpose is to improve health staff ability to provide quality services to a culturally-diverse clientele. Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK and Austria have implemented a program called “Migrant-friendly Hospitals” which embodies principles of cultural competence. The process of delivering client-friendly health services starts with the formation of a working group who are dedicated to these principles. The team assesses the feasibility of implementing and managing cultural competency training in terms of administrative support, readiness, acceptance, and participation of the relevant departments4142. There must be an enabling
Julia Puebla Fortier, 2010 Aries, 2004 42 Krajic et al., 2005 40 41
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environment which encompasses the training facility, proper timing, and equipment. Before planning the training, an assessment of training needs is conducted to identify appropriate and relevant topics, including formation of the training team. The trainees can be recruited from the department that provides service for a high number of migrant clients, and have supportive and cooperative leaders. The number of trainees depends on the decision of the target departments. Motivation to participate in the training is a key to success. Some countries offer educational credits toward professional advancement by successfully completing the training in cultural competence. Countries in Europe largely conduct the training by hospital department or health profession specialty. Others conduct a mixed training with staff from all departments. The training may be held during or outside of routine work hours, depending on availability and need of the trainees. The duration of the training is about ten hours on average43, including two curricula with four modules as follows: Basic curriculum (6 hours): This consists of two modules of three hours each, separated by a one week gap. The objective is to increase cultural sensitivity, awareness and working skills through interactive learning methods. These methods include analysis of scenarios and case studies, panel discussion, and practice-based training. The learning content is tailored to the local context, based on the pre- training situation assessment. Generally, the content covers the concept of culture and diversity as they relate to health and illness, ethical responsibilities in diversity management, self-awareness of subjective bias and prejudice, receptivity to diverse populations, perception of non- verbal communication, cultural debates, communication techniques for effective history taking, sensitive approaches to resolving conflicts of opinion, beliefs and practices between provider and client, and experience and challenges in providing health services for the migrant client. Continuing curriculum (4 hours): This is held one month after completion of the basic training and consists of two modules of two hours each, with a one-month gap in between. This curriculum focuses on learning exchange through the experience of applying the skills acquired in the basic training, review of obstacles encountered, discussion of interesting case examples or problem situations for group consideration of potential solutions. Trainees also propose lessons learned from practical application of the training and recommendations for skills building in related areas, or improvements to department services.
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Karl Krajic and Christa Strabmayr, 2004
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A key factor behind the success of this training is the level of experience of the training team with cultural diversity issues, familiarity with the hospital work environment, and facilitation competency in an atmosphere of diversity of opinion. It is also important to involve cultural mediators or representatives of the migrant clientele as members of the training team to add the client perspective to the discussion and expand the range of relevant information, opinion, feelings, needs and experience of the client. This will help solidify the learning, promote exchange of practical information, and expose new areas for skills development. The training can be supplemented by learning through forums or monthly meetings of the different hospital departments which include representatives of the providers and migrant clients to reflect on the health services of that department. An evaluation of the Migrant-friendly Hospitals Project in 2005 found that hospital staff who participated in the training acquired more knowledge, sensitivity, skills, and confidence in providing health services in the context of cultural diversity. In addition, the evaluation found that the training boosted the cultural competency of staff, and was cost-effective for the hospital. As a result, many of the participating hospitals have integrated the training as part of their routine human resources development program.
3. Components that are applicable to Thailand The lessons and approaches to client-friendly health services for foreign migrants in Europe and elsewhere should be applicable to Thailand, as one of a leading importer of foreign labor among ASEAN nations. Indeed, Thailand has already made important strides in expanding client-friendly health services for its own cross-border populations. However, a key difference in Thailand compared to Europe is the lack of stronger, continuous and clear policy support from the government for migrant services. Europe is further advanced in producing policy and guidelines for migrant health services, promoting the health rights of cross-border populations, discouraging discrimination, and addressing language and cultural differences. Thailand has been less systematic in promoting these benefits for its migrants. Further, Europe is more active in training its health personnel on cross-cultural skills to enable them to delivery cultural sensitivity health services, while Thailand is not much taken into account on this aspect. Therefore, barriers of attitude, culture and lifestyles still impede coverage of essential health services in Thai health system. The following are some recommendations for applying the experience in Europe to Thailand to promote client-friendly health services for migrant populations:
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Address the needs of the migrant population: Thailand should apply guidelines for health services which are attentive and sensitive to the differences in language and culture of the cross-border populations. This involves more dedicated outreach to the migrant community to increase knowledge and understanding about health rights, the Thai health system, and how to access the services. This requires collaboration with NGOs, migrant groups and communities. To this end, there should be more use of Migrant Health Worker (MHW) who are recruited from the migrant community to promote health education and service in the clinic and community setting.
Improve health outlets to provide more client-friendly health services: Thailand can apply principle of comprehensive health outet development to increase access to services, revise guidelines and operating procedures of treatment services and health promotion tailored to the context of the migrant clientele. This includes planning of services delivery with awareness of cultural diversity, as well as promoting positive, non-discriminatory attitudes among health staff in how they view and treat the lower-income migrant populations. These improvements apply to all staff including the physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, public health workers, social workers, nutritionists, public relations officers, interpreters, cleaning staff, and others. This will create a universal environment of acceptance of the cross-border populations despite their unique lifestyles, beliefs and cultures which differ from the Thai cultural mainstream. It is imperative that there be enough interpreters in the health outlet and outreach service in the migrant community, with multi-lingual health education media that migrants can easily understand. The health outlets should arrange flexible hours of service to accommodate the lifestyles and work conditions of the migrants.
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Experience and Management of Client-Friendly Health Services For Cross-border Migrants in Thailand
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER
4
Experience and Management of Client-Friendly Health Services For Cross-border Migrants in Thailand
1. Overall findings Guidelines for client-friendly health services for migrants in Thailand are derived from qualitative studies of programs which have more experience in providing these services. The more successful lessons have been extracted from the following locations: (1) Tak Province (Mae Sot District); (2) Ranong Province; (3) Samut Sakorn Province; and (4) Rayong Province. The client-friendly health services in the following institutions in the four sites were studied to distill practical and appropriate practices: (1) Public provincial and/or district hospitals; (2) Tambon health promotion hospitals (THPH), Municipal health centers, and/or NGO clinics; (3) Drop-in centers (DiC) implemented by NGOs; and (4) Health posts or community primary health care (PHC) centers located in the migrant communities. The various components of services were examined across the dimensions of health promotion, disease control, care and treatment, and rehabilitation. In addition, this review focused on particular items of interest related to cross-border service linkages in Khlong Yai District of Trad Province, and the public clinics which serve migrants in the Samran THPH in Muang District of Khon Kaen Province. This information was augmented by an opinion survey of cross-border migrants from Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao PDR in Samut Sakorn, Rayong, and Khon Kaen Provinces, respectively, to solicit their view of the friendly health services. This chapter summarizes the findings of this qualitative assessment of existing client-friendly health services for migrants and resulting guidelines or approaches for conducting these services, factors which promote success, obstacles and gaps that need attention. The key components of client-friendly health services under review include the following: 1) Attune to the diverse lifestyles and culture of the migrants; 2) Consistent with the occupations and living conditions of the migrants; 3) Proximity of health outlets to the migrant community to ensure easy access; 4) Clear communication between provider and client; 5) Non-judgmental and respects the humanity and health rights of migrants regardless their legal status; 6) Standard of service for migrants equal to Thais; 7) Affordability of the services for the migrants; 8) Similar expectations and understanding of health rights by provider and migrant client; 9) Participation and understanding of employer of migrants;
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10) Participation of migrants, their family and community members; 11) Linkages between the health system of the sending and destination countries. The driving force of client-friendly health services development in a given location bases on the situation of the cross-border migration, and demand for health services of the migrants. The health system have to response to the higher number of migrant clients over time, the obstacle in communicating different language, as well as the incidence of infectious diseases in the migrant community that complicated to solve. Thus, initially, the approach to services is somewhat reactive to respond the problems. Next, the local health facilities generally pursue a trial and error approach to arrive at the optimal service package that best meets most needs in an effective way. These service models actually preceded any policy or guidelines from the divisions or departments of the MOPH, and the local institutions had to rely on local resources, budget and manpower to cope, with support from special projects, and NGO programs funded from abroad. But, when taken together, the lessons from these ad hoc efforts form the basis for a comprehensive model of client-friendly health services for migrants that has evolved over time. Since the initial efforts by local institutions, the MOPH has developed measures and guidelines for routine health exams and health insurance for MW, as per various Thai Cabinet resolutions to address the overall MW situation. This has given a mandate to local health outlets to charge a fee for the health exam and health insurance premium for MW, and this helps to recover some of the costs for the static and outreach health care services. Later, the MOPH developed various strategies and a master plan to address health needs and challenges of border areas and migrant communities, with the goal of eventually implementing full coverage of a comprehensive public health program. This support from the central ministries and departments has been a positive force toward developing an initial model for client-friendly health services for migrants, with key responsible agencies, standard operating procedures, indicators of success, and regular budget support to supplement the special project funding and international assistance, which is mostly channeled through NGOs. It cannot be denied that the achievement of comprehensive static and outreach health services addressing the four dimensions of migrant health needs is the outcome of extensive collaboration and sharing between the local public and private sector agencies who are pioneering this package of services. This review of programs in the field found that the bulk of the migrant health care burden falls on the static public sector facilities. The NGO agencies focus more on outreach and community-based services for the migrants. This review also found that there is a large array of health challenges which neither sector acting alone can address sufficiently. Thus, any successful model
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of client-friendly health services for migrants will necessarily include both public and private agencies working collaboratively. Figure 2 below provides a conceptual framework for this multi-sectoral collaboration.
Figure 2: Public-private partnership for a comprehensive health system for migrants
The above figure shows that the community-based health post is a local focal point for NGOs, the community and the migrant population themselves to participate in the health care process. The health post provides health education, primary care, follow-up, and disease inspection. NGOs participate through DiC which are linked with the local hospital for referral of needy cases, and follow up care after treatment. DiC staff also assist with community disease/illness surveillance. In some sites, such as Mae Sod (Tak Province) or Muang District (Ranong) NGOs operate a clinical facility in the community which provides primary care and referral to government hospitals for migrant populations. This review found that all of the health outlets in the locality collaborate together for outreach and referral in a public-private partnership, which builds on the different strengths of each agency. It is noteworthy that the public sector agencies in these areas give a high priority to prevention of
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transmission of infectious disease from the migrants to the local Thai residents. This results in more active outreach for disease control by the public health staff and staff of the local administrative organizations. By contrast, the NGOs emphasize improving access for the migrant populations to health services, health education, and orientation on health rights of migrants. Over the past decade, a large, GFATM-funded project helped spur the development of a model for health care for cross-border populations with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Unlike the communicable disease control campaigns , only a few programs and sporadic implementation focus on reproductive health (RH), maternal and child health (MCH) and improving access to health services. This review found that the staff who conducted the disease control outreach work felt that the style of implementation was client-friendly for the migrants and was rather successful. The achievement due to the ability to access significant segments of the vulnerable migrant populations, with assistance by the local NGOs. The effort had built up trusting relationships with the migrants and arranged services in ways that were consistent with the work life, lifestyle and culture of the non-Thai groups. The NGO outreach workers were usually bi-lingual, and the NGO DiC offered a range of services and activities that were tailored to the diverse needs and lifestyles of the migrants. The DiC staff addressed issues of daily living, health, social issues, work permit registration and various rights. This collaborative public-private effort
to reach the migrant community was based on principles of PHC, implemented through various community-based organizations (CBO). A unique feature is the recruitment and training of migrant health volunteers (MHV) who are assigned to the local health post or PHC center to provide health education, primary care, and follow-up of treatment. A major component of success in these efforts is the ability to communicate with the migrants in their native language. Often, this required the recruitment of bi-lingual individuals such as the MHV and the migrant health workers (MHW), most of whom were initially MW in the local labor force. Appropriate individuals were trained to work with migrant clinics in the public hospital setting and assist with outreach given their familiarity and acceptance by the target communities as one of their own. Only a few Thai staff are bi-lingual in the migrants’ native language or had training as interpreters. Even then, those that are bi-lingual still do not have the same level of familiarity and access with the migrant communities, and need to rely on the NGO-hired MHV and MHW to be fully effective. Initially, the NGOs had to rely on special project budgets to recruit, train, and subsidize the costs of interpreters and MHW. Later, state funds from the fees collected from MW for the annual health exam and insurance was used to help cover these costs. An additional, successful strategy to bridge the language gap was the production of multi-lingual educational media to increase awareness and public relations for the migrant community. This was also a public-pri-
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vate collaboration with mutual input and support preter in the hospital, or MHV as a team member by both sectors. of the community outreach work. The government and NGOs worked together to achieve the indiThe development of client-friendly health services cators in areas that relevant to national goals, in the public sector was accomplished through such as prevention of HIV/AIDS among migrants, collaboration with active NGOs in the locality, and outreach DOT treatment for TB patients, as well further built good relationships between the two as promoting of HIV blood testing. In this way, sectors. This is especially apparent in how they these border and migrant health programs, inreacted rapidly to emerging needs of the migrants cluding the close collaboration have led the way through innovation and new strategies, prior the to achieve the success of client-friendly health existence of any specific policy. The good examservices for migrants in the study areas. ples are the initiation of MHW as language inter-
2. Client-friendly service approach, enabling factors and gaps The approaches to client-friendly health services for migrants in the locations under review are varied and intriguing. Each approach has addressed different types of enabling factors, even though implementation may have occurred during a period of time, and not always with full success. There remain gaps in the models developed so far. The following are highlights of these approaches and the areas which need improvement or further innovation. 2.1 Services which are tailored to the lifestyle and culture of the migrant Most of the public sector health outlets use the same standard operating procedures for migrants as for Thai citizens. Officially, there is no separate system for migrants, which reflects the different culture and lifestyles of these non-Thais. The only tangible adaptation is the creation of annexed services or specific appointment of services for the migrants so that the communication, health education and counseling can be more efficiently delivered in the language of the migrants in a single place and time. This also creates a more comfortable and welcoming environment for the migrant client, reduces crowding, and provides a sense of confidentiality for the migrant. This exclusive environment is more convenient, comfortable and efficient for both provider and client. The community-based outreach is a collaboration of the public and private sector, with migrants serving as the liaison with the target population. The migrant communities especially appreciate the mobile health clinic service at times of community festivals, and which include general health services, health education, and public relations.
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Table 4: the Lifestyles and Cultures of the Client Population Client-friendly service approach 1) Appointment for ANC and well-baby clinics on a day and duration for only non-Thai clients; 2) Separate OPD, TB, STI clinics for non-Thais; 3) Arrangement for a physician of the same nationality as the migrant clients to assist with services under the supervision of the Thai physician. This helps the migrants feel more relaxed and trusting, and helps them communicate their needs and understand their clinical status and instructions about care; 4) Provision of contraception which the migrants prefer, e.g., sub-dermal contraceptive implants, provided at the local THPH; 5) Health education, health exams, and disease screening during local festivals in migrant communities; 6) Development of educational media and activities using culture elements of traditional Cambodian norms; 7) Capacity building of traditional birth attendants (TBA) who are the same nationality as the target population of migrants to provide safe delivery for communities that are remote from clinical outlets or for migrant women who prefer TBA delivery; 8) Conduct campaigns in conjunction with cultural festivals of the migrants such as the Kuan Khao Yaku Day (Burmese New Year’s) in order to raise funds for health or social causes.
Client-friendly Health Services which reflect the Diversity of Enabling Factors ๏ Agency and institution managers give adequate priority to migrant services; ๏ Staff recognize the importance of providing population-specific services for migrant communities, since it is a cost-effective way to achieve performance goals; ๏ Both Thai and non-Thais prefer the confidentiality of having segregated services; ๏ Funds from the migrant health insurance fees or special projects support activities, especially community outreach; ๏ Using a physician with the same nationality as the migrant clients improves communication of needs and treatment, and conserves budget; ๏ Collaboration with NGOs with the expertise and experience in working in multiple areas of development with the migrant communities helps facilitate outreach in ways that are consistent with the local lifestyles and cultures; ๏ Local NGOs have full-time staff who are the same nationality and/or ethnicity of the target migrant population (e.g., Mon, Burmese, Karen, Lahu, Shan, Khmer) improves understanding of the culture and lifestyles, and this helps inform service strategies to maximize coverage and access to services.
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A success of services which are consistent with the diverse lifestyles and culture of the client communities is the presence of health staff and staff of NGOs who are trusted by the migrant population (documented and undocumented) during community outreach; the migrants do not fear the health providers or extension workers, and cooperate well. However, this strategy still has gaps and needs for improvement in the following ways: 1) The hospital staff need capacity building to provide health services in different cultural contexts. This is particularly important for new staff who may still may harbor misunderstandings and lack experience in cross-cultural activities. It is also a challenge to keep pace with the increasing number and diversity of the migrant population which is evolving over time. 2) There should be operational guidelines for health services which are tailored to the cultures of the different migrant client populations. These should include clear guidelines for static clinics and outreach services, and should be based on past/current best practices. As Thailand prepares for the era of the ASEAN Economic Community later in 2015, an important consequence of this development is the expected increased movement of medical professionals among countries in the region. Thailand has an opportunity to take advantage of the inter-country agreements to serve a diversity of health clients. Medical practitioners from different ASEAN countries could be recruited to work in health outlets in Thailand to better meet the health needs of the cross-border populations. This exchange and movement of personnel across borders needs to be managed carefully to ensure an appropriate match of service demand and supply. There are also issues of work authorization, monitoring mechanism by the Thai health care system and financial management. 2.2 Services are consistent with the living and working conditions of the migrants This review found that the NGOs working with migrants play a rather important role in this area because of their greater flexibility than government agencies. The NGOs also assess the needs of the migrants for occupational assistance in order to best assist them. NGOs can fill gaps, especially for health care needs through such mechanisms as the DiC or health post, in collaboration with government services, because they are not restricted by government bureaucracy and regulations. The two sectors have the same goals but use different approaches. The public sector is in a better position to request for cooperation from business owners. The NGOs are skilled in migrant community preparation to provide preliminary awareness. Both GOs and NGOs work together for health screening and disease surveillance by sharing each complement and expertise. Making services consistent with the living and working conditions of the migrants requires several key components as discussed below.
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Table 5: Lifestyles and Occupation of the Migrants Client-friendly service approach 1) Open after-hours or weekend health clinics; 2) Have mobile health unit visits to the community at times and places that are convenient for the target population; 3) Perform evening or night STI/RH clinics for sex workers; 4) Conduct outreach at convenient times, e.g., for fishing boat crew when the boats are docked during the full moon period, or outreach to agricultural workers in conjunction with farmer’s market days, or on Sundays for factory workers since that is usually a day off for most MW; 5) DiC hours are convenient for the migrants, and there is a bi-lingual MHW on site. Services are matched to the needs of the migrants such as assistance with registration rights, access to health services, and distribution of educational media in the migrants’ language. There is also information on occupational health and safety, and 24 hours phone counseling hotline; 6) Open conveniently-located health posts which are staffed by MHW with, perhaps, Thai village health volunteers to provide health education, educational media, and PHC.
Client-friendly Health Services which are Consistent with the
Enabling Factors ๏ If the clinic charges fees for service, then the additional clinic hours bring in additional income; ๏ MW who need health services can better access them on non-work days; ๏ The continued spread of infection disease has forced the health system to design on-going efforts on disease surveillance which reach the migrants appropriately; ๏ NGO staff have conducted assessments of the living conditions and occupational skills of migrants in order to be responsive to their employment needs; ๏ Health staff realize the importance of health promotion and disease prevention as this helps reduce the burden of local hospitals in treating preventable illness.
Services which are consistent with the work life and living conditions of the target population should demonstrate success in terms of improved access and utilization of health services at an optimal time before the condition worsens. In this way, the burden on hospitals is decreased and there is reduced cost of managing a given condition or illness. In addition, taking the work life and living conditions of the migrants into consideration improves outreach and coverage, as well as rapid response to epidemics or outbreaks of disease. Also, hiding or unreachable migrant communities are discovered to be able to provide health service. Local community leaders and volunteers, both Thais and non-Thais are established and work together to initiate the community health activities to develop new approaches to respond to a diverse array of needs. However, there remain certain obstacles and gaps that need attention, as follows:
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1) The over-time clinics need more staff to match the client demand; 2) There is a need to identify even more opportunities and approaches to access the MW in various occupations through more intensive public-private collaboration. This is needed given the constantly evolving employment patterns of MW, and shifting among jobs. 2.3 The closer the service outlet is to the target population, the better the access and convenience Most of the public provincial and district hospitals are located in urban centers, and access is rather convenient up to a certain point. However, often the migrant communities are separate settlements that are close to their place of work (e.g., factory, fishing boat pier, or crop field). Thus, a client-friendly health service needs to set up services that are proximal to the migrant settlements, as per the Thai health service idiom: “Near home – near heart.” The public and private agencies have been working together to create such client-friendly health services through static clinic and outreach services, while formalizing a system of efficient collaboration to maximize access and utilization by those migrants in need.
Table 6: Community based Outlets Client-friendly service approach
Client-friendly Health Services provided through
Enabling Factors 1) The Thai health infrastructure includes a linked net1) Establish a coordinated network of ser- work of quality service providers and nearby hospitals; vice providers such as PHC clinics, hospitals, THPH, municipal health centers, 2) The migrants with health insurance can access the some of which are near or inside the mi- health service network, the same as the Thai NHS sysgrant communities, and cater to persons tem; with health insurance cards; 3) NGOs have special projects to establish and carry out 2) Set up DiC near or in the migrant com- DiCs with clear operating procedures and services, with munities, which provide basic health edu- external funding support; cation, health promotion, disease surveillance, vaccine campaigns, follow-up for 4) The health posts are a mechanism to build self-relitreated cases, and referral to hospitals; ance among the migrant communities based on principles of PHC; 3) Set up health posts in the migrant communities to distribute educational media, 5) Health aspect is a universal need, and insensitive basic health care and essential drugs. issue regardless legal status, thus it is well accepted by all governmental agencies and local authorities.
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The client preference is for basic, one-stop health services close to home, whether it be a private clinic, THPH, municipal health center, or PHC clinic. This increases confidence in and familiarity with the service and providers, in the words of one migrant: “Going to the THPH is not complex or confusing; they take a history and prescribe the treatment. It’s not even necessary to have an identity card.” Such a network of services close to migrant communities would, ideally, be linked within the health insurance system, so that there is no fee for service for the insured. The success of the closer service outlet are demanding of migrant population for DiC and health posts, the functions serve the need of target group in providing health education, basic health care, and being the meeting point of the mobile clinical care, as well as be continuing utilized by the migrants in communities. In the long-term, ways must be found to tap into government budget, local administrative organizations and the business community itself to help subsidize the cost of operating the DiC and health posts on a continuous basis. The number of these outlets needs to be expanded to achieve full coverage and meet the diverse needs of the migrant communities. At present these outlets are run on a temporary basis through special project funding of NGOs, and that is not a sustainable model of financing. 2.4 Communication in the language of the migrants, both spoken and written language An important means of overcoming many obstacles to appropriate health care for migrants is the need for bi-lingual services and communication materials. All of the outlets in the areas under review recognize the importance of knowing the language of the migrant client or having interpreters on staff, and print materials translated into the migrant language. Initially, the health facilities relied on parttime and volunteer interpreters to bridge the communication gaps. Later, this was formalized into the recruitment and training of MHW. However, the Thai government bureaucracy has made it difficult to create permanent, salaried positions for these non-Thai workers. As an interim approach, NGOs hired and managed the cadre of MHW. This approach has since evolved in the following ways: 1) Hospitals have found ways to directly hire the MHW by using hospital funds, or funds from integrated special projects; 2) The Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) is an intermediate agency to hire MHW and assign them to the provincial, district, and Tambon hospitals; 3) Some outlets continue to request NGOs to provider interpreter service to fill communication gaps in some department of the hospital.
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Table 7: Communication
Client-friendly Health Services through Bi-lingual Enabling Factors
Client-friendly service approach
Spoken language ๏ Most of the special projects 1) Recruit non-Thai translators or bi-lingual MHW who are native for migrants over the past despeakers of the migrant language and have been working in cade have given high priority to Thailand for a period of time; bi-lingual communication skills 2) Recruit Thai interpreters who have learned the migrant’s lan- of its staff and volunteers, and guage either formally or informally; this has created a cadre of per3) Request assistance from the MHW staff of NGOs to assist sonnel and norms for bi-lingual with clinic activities in various public outlets during migrant clinic communication in static clinic hours (e.g., ANC, well-baby, etc.); and outreach settings; 4) Request interpreter assistance on an ad hoc basis from bi-lin๏ The government has policies gual community volunteers or staff of NGOs; which recognize the importance 5) Hire migrants to work as cleaning staff of the health service of bi-lingual communication and outlet, and to serve as interpreters on occasion as needed; has issued guidelines for hiring 6) Request assistance from bi-lingual clients who have come for MHW to serve as the bridge service to help serve as interpreter on an ad hoc basis; between the migrant client and 7) Train the Thai health staff in the migrant language at a basic Thai health provider, and have level; allocated budget for this pur8) Tap into the bi-lingual skills of Thai health staff who have pose as well as capacity buildtaken the trouble to learn the migrant language on their own. ing; Written language ๏ A training curriculum for the 9) Translate the health education documents or reprint in dual lan- MHW has been created based guage, and distribute these at the clinical facility, DiC and health on input from the public and posts, and during campaigns; private sector, both local and 10) The health outlets can produce signs on various aspects of central offices, and which can health and health services, and instructions of drug use in the be replicated and used widely. multiple languages of the migrants in the area. Even though the Lao language is similar to Thai, this review found that some Lao migrants faced communication difficulties when interacting with Thai health providers. Migrants from Lao PDR can usually understand spoken Thai quite well since they watch Thai TV broadcasts in their home country and in Thailand. However when interacting with Thai health personnel their spoken communication is not as fluent as their comprehension. In the words of one Lao migrant:
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“I watch Thai TV, and I can understand normal Thai conversation, but I do not speak Thai fluently.” “Sometimes, the Thai health staff do not understand me. I understand them well, but they don’t understand my response.” Thus, even though the languages are similar, it may be needed to have a Lao interpreter at sites where there are a large number of Lao migrant clients, including signs and print material in the Lao script. The Thai staff also need to sensitive to the variations in the Lao dialects which fluctuate depending on the geographic region. This review found that the success in bi-lingual communication are; health provider perceives an important and essential of having MHW, the MHW helps to reduce the burden on Thai health staff in communicating with the migrant clientele, and MHW contributes to a smooth and efficient service encounter. Besides, the MHWs help to reduce misunderstanding and conflict and improve the efficacy of the services. Outreach for control of infectious disease is also more efficient and effective with bi-lingual personnel. The migrant clients felt that the migrant interpreters were more effective than the bi-lingual Thai interpreters. In any case, there were not enough interpreters to meet the demand, and the emphasis was on assisting the Thai service providers in other assignments rather than helping to communicate language with the migrant clients. What is more, some of the MHW tend to act as regular hospital staff and do not provide as much interpreter assistance as needed. Thus, there should be a clearer specification of the role of the MHW with a primary role as a language interpreter between client and health provider. In the words of one migrant client: “Initially, the MHWs were good, but later on at the hospital they started acting like they were clinicians (as opposed to interpreters to help us address our health needs).” Despite the recognition and improvement of bi-lingual health services, the following gaps and needs remain: Spoken interpreters 1) Clearly specify functions for long-term employment of MHW: 2) There is a need for better coordination with labor offices to facilitate the process of hiring, because many MHW have to seek employer on their own, even though they are working in a health facility; 3) There should be a dependable job position with a career path and security with clearly stated compensation, which increases with experience, as is the case with Thai interpreters who have been hired in this position and who have advancement opportunity.
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4) There should be capacity building for interpreters so that they can provide more detailed health information. If the MHW can be continually upgraded, they can increasingly reduce the health education burden on the Thai health staff. 5) There should be a sufficient number of interpreters and MHW in locations with a large number of migrants, and these persons should be recruited for full-time employment in the larger departments, including: ๏ Those clinics which separate Thais from migrants such as OPD, ANC and well-baby clinics; ๏ Assistance with referral among clinics within the hospital on request; and ๏ The dispensary, to ensure that the migrant client knows how to comply with the prescribed treatment, even when the information on the medicine is in Thai or even in their own language. 6) There should be sensitivity to the need to use an interpreter with persons of the same nationality but a different ethnicity, among whom there may be conflict. 7) There should be support for NGOs to further collaborate with the public health sector on a sustained basis, given the increasing number of health outlets which need MHW who have been recruited and trained by NGO, in order to help with the outreach and support static clinic services. 8) Written language 9) There should be print material in multiple languages, including signs which describe the steps to follow in the service process. This is needed because, even though the health outlets produce material in multiple languages, not all of the needy clientele can access these media, or the content does not address their health problem. For example, the migrant client needs information on post-treatment practice, post-operative care, and how to take the prescribed medicines. 10) The language used when communicating with the migrant client should be easy to understand and avoid complex medical terms. 11) As Thailand prepares to enter the era of the ASEAN Economic Community, it might be a good time to reproduce media in multiple languages, including English, since English is an official communication language for ASEAN member countries.
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2.5 Providing services which display a positive attitude and respect of the humanity and health rights of the client, without regard to legal status In general, the Thai health service personnel provide services without discrimination. Especially those personnel who have experiece encounters with migrant clients have gained a more profound understanding of the target population, and try to maintain a positive approach toward health services. Based on this review of service providers, most respondents said that there were positive relationships with the migrant clients. Only a minority of staff, in particular the new coming staff, have negative prejudice toward the migrants. These findings are consistent with the data from the migrant clients who report being treated fairly and equitably by Thai health personnel. That said, a few migrants reported the following negative reactions of some Thai providers: “You are pregnant. Why have you come to Thailand?” “Why are you here, while you cannot speak our language?” “Some units (of the hospital) have only one person with a negative attitude; but most are good.” “The larger (provincial) hospitals have large caseloads…and this makes some staff irritable.” Overall, the Thai health outlets tend to provide equitable health services to the migrant clients, regardless of legal status, and regardless of whether Thai Immigration asks for cooperation in identifying illegal immigrants. There were no reports of health staff reporting undocumented migrants to Thai Immigration since they felt that it was not their responsibility to do so, as in the words of the following: “Reporting (of undocumented migrants) to the police will not solve the problem since, even if they are deported, they will return to Thailand again.” “Even if we find symptomatic TB, (which is a criteria for deportation to the home country) we still provide full-course of treatment since, if we deport them, we would not be able to follow up the treatment.” “Regardless of whether a MW has a work permit or not, they are here helping to boost the Thai economy. Arresting them will not solve the problem.” The voices of the migrant clients echoed those of the health providers: “The hospital will not deport migrants with TB, but instead will provide treatment and follow-up care.” “Some hospitals may threaten to report undocumented migrants if they don’t pay the treatment costs. They want them to try to cover the costs and not depend on Thai relief fund.”
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Table 8: Attitudes and Respect of Humanity
Client-friendly Health Services Based on Positive
Client-friendly service approach Enabling Factors 1) Orientation for new staff of the hospital on their ๏ The hospital has a policy to accept role in caring for both Thai and non-Thai clients; both Thai and cross-border populations;
The manner and reaction of the Thai health staff toward the migrant clients is one of the indicator of success for the friendly service in respecting the rights and humanity. Other indicators are; a good impression of the service among migrant clients so that they inform the respectable services to other migrants, and thus the service utilization is increase. In addition, this review found that, in the process of infectious disease control in the migrant communities, the migrants do not hide, and cooperate well; as there is a trusting relationship with the government health authorities. This also helps create a health promotion network in the migrant community which greatly facilities outreach activities. This review found that there is already a positive foundation for client-friendly health services for the migrant population. However, gaps remain in capacity building for newly arrived service providers who may harbor prejudices against non-Thai clients. NGOs have been particularly active in orienting health staff to the migrant population, but their coverage is too limited, and there is no training curriculum to be applied for government staff. 2.6 Equal standards of treatment for Thais and migrant populations As far as establishing standards of health service, all the government outlets in the area of study agreed that the health outlets and staff must provide the same standard of care for Thais and nonThais. This applies to the point of client admission, queue numbering, equivalent examination and care, and dispensing of medicines or therapies. The migrants themselves feel that the services are equal, as reflected by the following:
๏ Seeing the living conditions, cross-cultural exchange, and understanding of the migrant population improves relationships and services; ๏ Health providers, who have longterm experience in working with migrant 3) Training to improve understanding of the populations in collaboration with NGOs, cross-border population in various dimensions, improve the realization that providing initiated by NGOs to improve attitudes toward the health service to migrants is their role and responsibility. migrants. 2) Assigning staff to participate in socio-cultural activities or study tours to observe health services and living conditions in the country of origin, and participation in the religious festivals of the migrant population;
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“The hospital does not discriminate, and the services are the same for everyone. If Thai patients receive two pills of Para (a pain relief pill), then so do the Burmese patients with the same condition.” “The process of treatment is the same for every client; there is diagnosis, assessment of symptoms and treatment.” “It’s the same as for Thais. Some of us (migrants) don’t understand the system. Some feel that it takes too long to see the doctor.” “Regardless of whether you have a health card or not, the service is the same. However, those without health cards have to pay a service fee (just as Thais do).” Regarding outreach for infectious disease screening, the process may be a bit more intense for migrants than for Thai residents. The Thai health staff provides the same screening and treatment practices. But there are issues of hard to reach due to different life style and communication barrier, which makes outreach disease control more difficult than for Thai communities. To be effective, community disease surveillance requires building good relationships with the migrant community and collaboration with the local NGOs. The enabling factors for equal standard of treatment base on the health service outlets in the study area acknowledge principles of equal treatment for all clients. Further, the MOPH has a policy to provide free vaccines to all children of migrants. At the same time, there is a clear national strategy on disease control among migrant population, so public health authorities are reasonably proactive in outreach activities to migrant communities. Some programs, usually with the help of local NGOs, include active home visiting to ensure continuous treatment for tuberculosis, and prompt appointments for vaccination. These efforts promote the treatment and care for Thai and non-Thai meet the equal standard. An indicator of success in this area is the number of complaints filed of discriminatory practices by migrant clients of Thai health facilities. Indeed, most of the informal complaints are from Thais who feel the hospitals provide services for too many migrants. The migrants who may have grievances do not feel they can file them with the hospital since it requires written documentation, address, phone contact, etc., in the Thai language. A more empirical measure of the equality of the Thai health system is the number of migrants who seek services at public facilities, in particular to attend ANC and well-baby clinics. Public hospitals at the border area are often overwhelmed by the number of migrants deliver a child or treat a disease. One obstacle to client-friendly health services is from the influx of new staff who are not familiar with the non-Thai clients and may harbor negative prejudices. Also, entering the data of migrant clients into the NHSO system and other reports increases the workload of Thai staff. Thus, some staff feel that serving the large number of non-
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Thais by the same standard is a burden. This is especially a problem in areas where the migrant population is increasing but the public health staff is constant. An example of this is the program to promote breastfeeding among post-partum women. Some facilities have limited this activity to only Thai women since they feel that migrants already practice breastfeeding at a high level. To keep 2.7 Provision of affordable health services The ability of Thai public health outlets to recover costs of treating migrants is of increasing importance. This is especially acute in cases of severe illness or injury, requiring lengthy hospital stays and in the absence of health insurance coverage. For the primary care health service outlets, most migrants can afford to pay a service fee, whether it is at a private clinic, THPH, or municipal health center. A problem is that most migrants who feel healthy do not see the need to buy health insurance that is available to them, unless it is a requirement of the work permit process. This review found that migrants prefer the annual health insurance program over the Social Security System (SSS) because the SSS was more complicated to enroll in and required contributions from the employer and employee. Some employers of migrants did not make their payments for insuring their non-Thai workers, even though they had deducted the fee from the migrant’s pay. In addition, before being eligible for coverage, the migrant had to work for a period of time before claiming SSS benefits. Further, if the MW moved, then the migrant had to re-enroll. For those MWs who work in border areas which pay less than the
pace with the increasing number of migrants in Thailand, there needs to be more outreach health education to strengthen migrants’ practice of personal hygiene and self-care to lift their knowledge to the same level as the mainstream Thais. This also helps to reduce health risks of migrants and caseloads at the hospital.
Thai minimum wage felt that the annual health insurance premium was unaffordable. They also felt that charging the adult health insurance premium for accompanying youth age 7-15 years was excessive. An important limitation to access to health insurance is the requirement of the presentation of the Civil Registration Form, and entry of name and address of the migrant’s employer. This is an obstacle to insuring accompanying dependents and non-documented migrants, who remain outside the health insurance system. These migrants have to appoint and pay a Thai agent to be their employer, in order to obtain health insurance cards. Moreover, some employers avoid assisting the MW to process the insurance, and contract with an external agent to do this for a fee which is passed on to the MW employee: “The agent charges as much as 5,000 baht to process the insurance when the real cost is only 3,800 baht .” Officially, the Thai government endorses the need to cover all migrants and their dependents with health insurance, and the MOPH has set up such a fee-based program, but it is not affordable
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for all migrants in need. Thus, many migrants and their dependents remain uncovered. The following presents approaches to bridge the gap between the needs of the migrant population for health insurance and the need of Thai health facilities to recover costs. Client-friendly Health Services which are Consistent Table 9: with the Client’s Ability to Pay Client-friendly service approach 1) Utilize a co-pay system based on ability to pay; 2) Identify sources of support in the migrant community; if those are insufficient, then public welfare may be used to cover some costs; 3) Pre-payment a fee based on ability to pay, with the employer or relatives assisting (in order to motivate to join the formal health insurance system); 4) Apply the same welfare system as for Thais if migrants cannot cover the cost of care; 5) In cases of severe illness and long-term care, repatriate the migrant to the home country for on-going care, or based on the desire of the patient and family members. Enabling Factors ๏ The hospital charges fee for service for non-insured migrants equivalent to that for Thais without health insurance; ๏ The Thai health infrastructure has a service outlets nearby community (PHC clinic or THPH or municipal health center) as the point of first treatment for migrants, even though a fee is charged since this off-sets the travel cost of going to a hospital; ๏ Some groups of migrants have established revolving health funds for emergency cases; ๏ MW who work in urban areas receive the Thai minimum wage, and they can afford standard health care fees; ๏ The pre-payment system encourages the client participating in covering the cost of care.
One indicator of affordable health services is the degree to which migrants can access needed health services even if required to pay a nominal fee (which they can afford). Another indicator is the degree to which hospitals can reduce their cumulative debt of unpaid medical costs. Further, the pre-payment system has promoted their awareness to enroll in health insurance, as well as impacted on reducing reliance of the Thai relief fund. The NGO-MHWs also reflect their understanding towards this pre-pay in the words as follows: “If a person has only two or three thousand baht, the hospital will take the case. It is the regulation and everyone has to be prepared for that. We explain to the migrant community that the hospital will go into bad debt if they cannot recover costs (and that’s why the regulation was created).” “There are cases of people who have enough money but pay nothing; the hospital helps out on a case by case basis.” “Sometimes I sign to guarantee on behalf of the client who agrees to pay the hospital back in in-
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stallments. However, after one or two payments, that person disappears. Since I was the guarantor it makes me embarrassed to seek welfare assistance (from the hospital) to cover the cost. I want to help them but it’s the same old problem.” The major challenge for client-friendly health services in terms of affordability is how to get more migrants covered by health insurance: 1) The government should have a clear policy to cover all the migrant population, including MW and their accompanying dependents, without regard to legal status; 2) The health insurance policy should be clear and consistent, not changing year by year. The annual fluctuation in policy makes it difficult for hospital and clinics to develop standard guidelines for assistance, and creates budget uncertainty; 3) The government should have motivation mechanisms in expanding health insurance coverage for migrants to reduce the cost burden on hospitals with large numbers of migrant clientele; 4) The process for purchasing health insurance should be simplified, especially for accompanying dependents of MW, and eliminate obstacles to coverage. Each hospital with large migrant caseloads should have a separate registration system and database to better identify and assist undocumented migrants and help them to get health insurance; 5) The government should implement measures to ensure that employers pay the minimum wage for their MW labor force, equally, throughout the country. 2.8 Health provider and client understand health rights A client-friendly health service depends on a consistent awareness of health rights by both the client and provider. For migrants, their understanding of their health rights is mostly with regard to access to health insurance, cost of insurance premiums, and where to get the service. However, there is less understanding of the package of benefits which the migrants are eligible for, both in the annual health insurance and SSS. It is only when the migrants have to go for actual health services that they acquire a broader understanding of their health rights. By contrast, most of the health providers know and understand health rights as a basic human right of all clients. Nevertheless, in practice, provision of services in accordance with health rights depends on the attitude of a given provider toward non-Thai clients, as well as the enabling context of care. Those health providers with direct responsibility for care of migrant understand the details of health
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insurance, including the benefit package. However, the other general staff of public hospitals have less in-depth knowledge of insurance eligibility and may only know that the package of benefits is the same as for Thais, and insured migrants have to pay 30 baht per visit. Effort of the government to promote the health rights among the migrant population aims to increase number of health insurance. NGOs, on the contrary, focus on providing basic education to raise their awareness on health rights, and facilitate access to health services. NGOs also help to motivate migrants to enroll in government health insurance schemes.
Table 10: Understanding of Health Rights Client-friendly service approach
Client-friendly Health Services with regard to Enabling Factors ๏ The PPHO and hospital support public information dissemination about health rights and health insurance; ๏ NGOs play a key role in orienting migrants regarding their health rights, and helping them to understand their health insurance options, communicating in the native language of the migrants.
1) Orient the NGO staff and MHW about the health insurance options and relevant details to inform the migrant community; 2) Convene meetings of the employers of MW so that they realize the importance and understand health insurance and benefit package for MW so that they encourage their MW to enroll; 3) NGOs develop educational media and training curricula on health rights and health insurance in the language of the migrants, and use the DiC and health posts as a learning center for migrant health benefits.
Most of the success in this area has been in the form of awareness-raising activity about health insurance. A number of the health outlets said that this friendly service for health insurance has not been fully realized because a large number of migrants do not aware and understand the health insurance system, or lack eligibility. Also, there has been limited progress in raising awareness of health rights of migrants, and most of this activity has been conducted by a small number of NGOs. The government outlets are not very active in raising awareness of migrant health rights, especially for those outside the health insurance system and are harder to reach, or are highly mobile in and out of the area. In addition, there has been insufficient cooperation from the employers of MW in promoting health insurance coverage and social security. Many employers don’t cooperate to co-pay for the annual health insurance or the SSS. Thus, there is a need for a more comprehensive system of orientation and measures to raise the level of awareness of migrant population and MW employers about the health rights, with consistent com-
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munication from local health staff. Any information dissemination campaign should emphasize that the migrants themselves need to also take some responsibility for paying for health services when they can afford it without relying on social welfare, which should only be for the truly needy. 2.9 Promoting Understanding and Collaboration of the Employers of MW Having good collaboration from the employers of MW is a key component of client-friendly health services. This review found that the government has asked MW employers to enroll migrants in health insurance, and suggest that they invest in a health information corner in the workplace among other approaches. A number of businesses have cooperated with outreach efforts for infectious disease control, and occupational safety promotion. Health peer leaders have been recruited among the MW as a liaison between the migrants, employers and the health providers. Much of this activity has been done in collaboration with local NGOs. The NGOs which are active in this area generally focus on the workplaces with large numbers of MW, and collaborate with these business owners or occupational associations/groups, such as the Fisheries Association. NGOs request time and space in the worksite to conduct learning activities for the MW, or use the port area to provide outreach annual polio vaccines, or conduct mosquito control spraying in exposed worksites, and help conduct case-finding when there is an outbreak of infectious disease. This is usually three-way collaboration between the government, NGO and worksite. While employer collaboration is certainly a prerequisite to success of workplace health interventions, a key factor is the importance of the MW to the production process which convinces employers to support health promotion and disease prevention activities to reduce sick-leave, especially in the case of epidemic illness. Often, the MW employers allow public health staff to conduct on-site health exams and screening, and this outreach improves understanding of the worksite managers and further increases their incentive to collaborate. Certain laws and regulations also motivate employers to participate such as the Social Security Act, or other government declarations for orderly management of MW populations. Indicators of success in this area are the extent to which businesses allow access to their MW workforce by NGOs and public health staff, or make requests for outreach health service to their factories. Additional evidence of collaboration is the employer purchases of annual health insurance or counterpart contribution into the SSS on behalf of the MW. An important obstacle to greater collaboration is the irregular or illegal hiring of MW. In those cases, the worksite managers are probably instructed not to cooperate with outreach or other outside inspection of the workforce. What is more, in some locations, the business owners are non-Thai with limited ability to communicate in Thai. They are unfa-
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miliar members of the local community, and may not even live there. Some owners delegate oversight to an intermediary who is not authorized to collaborate with outsiders. 2.10 Promoting greater participation migrants, their family and community Participation by the target population is an important principle of PHC to achieve client-friendly health services, especially health promotion and disease control. Those areas require trust of the migrants in the outreach health teams who visit their community. The highest level of trust is usually found at the community-based health post or DiC, with the following attributes:
Table 11: Population Participation
Client-friendly Health Services through Migrant Enabling Factors ๏ Government, NGOs and special projects play an important role in advocating principles of PHC to increase concrete participation of the migrants in health services; ๏ The various health outlets see the importance of migrant community participation, and allocated budget to support this; ๏ MHV are compassionate toward the health needs of their fellow migrants and take pride in their ability to contribute to health services; ๏ Collaboration on the health interventions improves relationships, confidence and trust among the participants and clients; ๏ The longer-serving MHV and MHW have accumulated extensive experience which can help inform current and future health programs in the migrant communities; ๏ Migrants within the same ethnic group feel solidarity and form groups to assist each other.
Client-friendly service approach 1) Establish local health posts or PHC centers to provide basic health care with linkages and oversight provided by the following: ๏ NGOs ๏ Provincial or district hospital ๏ THPH ๏ PPHO ๏ Public-private collaboration; 2) Creation of a cadre of community-based migrant health volunteers (MHV) to conduct health education and primary care; 3) Community health workers who are both Thai and migrant nationals work with the MHV or other community peer educators on health interventions; 4) Creation of revolving essential drug funds in migrant communities which are planned and managed by the migrants themselves; 5) Encourage migrants to participate in the management of DiCs based on the needs and demands of the target population; 6) MHV and MHW participate in the management of the community health outlets in collaboration with the THPH staff, and conduct various health activities in the community; 7) The migrants form groups to set up revolving funds for mutual assistance for various needs, including unexpected health/medical care costs.
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Indications of success from greater participation of the migrant community include increased number of migrant peer educators, and a vision in which the migrants see themselves not just as recipients of care, but providers of care, who can provide valuable input to health development. The greater the level of community participation, the easier it is to conduct disease surveillance and prevention in the community. Obstacles to greater participation include the fact that government health staff are not trained in motivating migrant community residents to participate more actively, or to form local support groups. Thus, the government prefers to encourage the NGOs to conduct these capacity building activities for migrants. However, this leaves certain gaps as follows: 1) Local administrative organizations need to provide more support for community health centers in migrant communities to create continuity of services and easy accessibility and acceptability of services. This benefits both Thais who live in the neighborhood as well as the migrants; 2) Government should work constantly with NGOs and identify resources, including funding support to NGOs and communities to sustain local participation. This includes motivation for MHVs to be dedicated toward serving their community effectively and continuously. 2.11 Health care links between the origin and destination countries There have been efforts by Thailand and its neighbors to link health services for cross-border migrants so as not to interrupt continuity of care. Most of these efforts have occurred between district “sister-cities” on either side of the Thai border. Initially, this collaboration occurred for migrant patients in critical condition in Thailand who wanted to return to continue treatment closer to home. Later, there were cases of HIV-infected MW on ART who needed to continue the therapy at the health outlets of their home country. Usually, this cross-border collaboration was facilitated by NGOs with offices and staff in both Thailand and the home country of the ailing migrant. The feasibility of this collaboration depends on local politics and administration. The following table lists some examples.
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Table 12: Health Services between Countries Client-friendly service approach Western Border 1) Collaborative surveillance of infectious disease by two or more pairs of districts or provinces on either side of the Thai-Myanmar border, such as dengue fever and TB-DOTS, and monitoring of non-communicable disease. Volunteers are recruited and trained with the same curriculum in both border sites for joint case investigation and tracing; 2) NGO clinics have built capacity of cross-border populations to enable them to provide basic care through PHC clinics for mobile Thai-Myanmar circular migrants; 3) Thailand and Myanmar have been trying to create a linked referral system, and have convened meetings to define the guidelines and procedures. They have developed multi-lingual referral forms, and this system is in the early stage of trial implementation; 4) Border food and drug control stations have been set up to intercept low-quality health products intended for sale in Thailand. Eastern Border 5) A system of cross-border referral for continuous treatment for PLHIV and patients in critical condition has been implemented between hospitals in Thailand and Cambodia with official Thai-Cambodian-English referral forms and letters, as well as collaboration between the local immigration officials of both countries.
Client-friendly Health Services through Linking Enabling Factors ๏ Thai hospitals at busy border crossings have a particularly heavy burden in caring for the constant stream of migrants who prefer Thai health and medical care facilities. This leads to considerable debt of these public hospitals when migrants are not able to pay the full cost of treatment and cannot be easily contacted after discharge. The linkage has been established to enforce this problems. ๏ There is an innovative project “Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance (MBDS) Project” as a ways to share the clinical burden; ๏ Over many years, good relationships have been built up between administrators and staff of health service outlets on both sides of the border and this has resulted in non-formal collaboration; ๏ The increased ease of transportation between the major towns and cities on both sides of the border are leading to improved cross-border referral success; ๏ NGOs help to facilitate significantly in the cross-border collaboration, especially in providing multi-lingual interpreters to bridge the communication gaps.
An indication of success of these cross-border linkages is the formalization of collaboration in referral, disease surveillance, case follow-up, and continued therapy for chronic illness. This should lead to improved health and survival of cross-border populations. However, political tensions and different health policies of the neighboring countries can pose barriers to establishing client-friendly health services linkages. There is a need for more bi-lateral agreements to create a more enabling environment for cross-border collaboration and referral. There are prototypes of this at the sub-national level, for example on Thailand’s western border in which a Border Health Coordination Center was established which evolved into the Cross-border Health Economics
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Group. There should be official measures to build capacity of health care services in the migrant’s home country to be able to continue treatment and care effectively.
The ultimate goal of the health care linkage is “to save human life, regardless of nationality”. Trad Province on Thailand’s eastern land-sea border with Cambodia has a large number of Cambodian migrants who live and work in Thailand. There are also a large number of pregnant Cambodian women who cross the border to deliver their infants, and many come for health treatment and care in Thai health facilities. There are also ethnic Burmese and Mon MW from Myanmar who are working in fruit orchards and rubber farms in this province. Khlong Yai District Hospital of Trad Province is the nearest government hospital to the Cambodian Border in this part of the eastern region. This hospital sees many of these migrants for ANC, delivery, diagnosis and medication, as well as treatment for accidents or injury. If the patient’s needs exceed the ability of the Khlong Yai Hospital to manage, then the case is referred to the Trad Provincial Hospital. Khlong Yai also conducts infectious disease control, particularly in terms of treatment of STIs which was how the cross-border collaboration initially began: “In about 1997, screening of pregnant women for HIV found prevalence of 12% to 14%, and this extremely high level of infection shocked us into implementing intensive prevention programs for the vulnerable populations” (Deputy Director of the Khlong Yai District Hospital). A key feature of the cross-border health interventions in Trad was the process of return referral of clients back to their homeland. The referral system was developed by the Trad PPHO, Khlong Yai Hospital and Raks Thai Foundation (the local NGO) out of compassion for PHLIV who could not afford treatment costs and the need to provide on-going care when they returned home. The long-term collaborative relationship between health providers and facilities on both sides of the border enabled the creation of a non-formal bi-lateral referral system, without the need for national-level agreements or MOU. In 2005, Cambodian PLHIV began being referred back to Cambodia for on-going care. This collaboration expanded to include on-going care for premature infants and accident victims who were referred back to Koh Kong Provincial Hospital on the Cambodian side once out of danger. As the scope and volume of this cross-border referral increased, there were exchange study tours of health and clinical personnel, which helped the Thai staff to understand the constraints
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of the Cambodian health and medical system. Khlong Yai Hospital staff helped build capacity of their counterparts at Koh Kong Hospital and provided certain equipment and medical supplies to ease the burden of receiving the referred cases. The non-formal collaboration has now been formalized into a cross-border agreement for systematic cross-border referral of cases with Thai-Cambodian-English referral forms. This level of collaboration could never have occurred without good relationships between the relevant frontline health staff and administrators, and the energy and dedication of the Raks Thai Foundation which promoted this cooperation and programs to help migrants over a 16year period. The NGO sector was a key component to bridging services across borders given its implementation expertise and credibility on both sides of the border. Initially there was a series of regular meetings among interested individuals from each country, and they shared information about each other’s national and local health systems, administrators, health providers and clients. Bi-lingual communication was strengthened over time to improve exchange and understanding. Raks Thai played a facilitator role to ensure smooth collaboration, and filled gaps when it was inconvenient for the government agencies to do so (e.g., accompanying patients being repatriated). At present, even though there is a clear system of Thai-Cambodian referral at this location, the results are not yet optimal in that some patients who are referred back to Cambodia die. But these undesirable treatment outcomes have spurred the administrators of Khlong Yai Hospital to increase their collaboration with their counterparts in Koh Kong: “We always felt uneasy referring a critical case back to Cambodia because many of the patients themselves did not expect to survive upon return…Now, as our hospital debt has declined, we are able to invest more in ensuring the survival of these patients – which we must strive for -- out of our shared humanity.” (Director, Khlong Yai Hospital). This is a monumental challenge for the health providers at the Thai-Cambodian border and many obstacles must be overcome in the process. But the ultimate goal of health services must be to save life, irrespective of differences in nationality, through compassionate treatment of one another as an extended family.
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Summary, Challenges and Recommendations
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER
5
Summary, Challenges and Recommendations
1. Summary Thailand has been developing client-friendly health services for cross-border migrants who work and reside in Thailand for many years. The initial efforts were piloted at the implementation level, primarily in the area of bridging the language and cultural gaps between client and provider. Later on, the MOPH issued measures and guidelines for physical exams and health insurance for MW and their accompanying dependents. In addition, a Master Plan and Strategic Plan were developed to further develop models of border area health services and locations with large concentrations of resident migrants. These government efforts were conducted in tandem with externally-funded special projects, largely implemented through NGOs. As a result, during the past decade (2004-14), there has been significant progress in improving and expanding client-friendly health services including health promotion, disease prevention, care, treatment and rehabilitation. The client-friendly health service for migrant populations is of considerable interest to countries in Europe which are also dealing with a large influx of cross-border migrants. Most of the development to accommodate the migrants is in terms of capacity-building of staff to improve cultural competency. The European countries have clear national policies and guidelines based on a foundation of health rights, non-discrimination, and sensitivity to the diversity of cultures and languages. Thailand has implemented a more ad hoc approach to client-friendly health services for migrants by addressing challenges as they emerged at the implementation level. The efforts focused on bridging the language gap with migrant clients and conducting outreach for communicable disease control. Later, a health insurance scheme for MW was introduced to improve access to health services, and this measure helped recover some of the costs of providing public health services to the non-Thai migrants. However, Thailand has put less effort into building capacity of staff to improve attitudes and cultural awareness in serving migrant clients. Much of the capacity building of government health staff has been a process of learning by doing. National policy on health care for migrants has not been as clear as that of countries in Europe who have longer experience in developing client-friendly services. The improvements toward better client-friendly health services in Thailand have largely occurred because of the close public-private collaboration between the health sector at all levels and NGOs. The assistance they provide to each other’s programs
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has been in a positive spirit of cooperation. This has helped shape a service system which meets the needs of migrant communities and helped in the development of approaches to achieve the indicator targets. Overall, client-friendly health services for migrants in Thailand have improved in significant ways as reflected in the voices of clients below.
2. Migrant client perspective of health services Qualitative data collection has been conducted with migrants from Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao PDR to gain a client population perspective on Thailand’s efforts to develop an efficient model of client-friendly health services. Overall, the migrants feel that services meet their needs up to a certain level, but there is an unevenness of performance for some components of health care. Migrants also provided recommendations for improving services as follows: 1) The migrants agree with the approach to have separate clinics for migrants (from the Thai clients) for some services. They felt that this provides a more private environment, but there is still a need for interpreter on board at these separate clinics; 2) Migrants appreciate the outreach services to their communities and campaigns during local cultural festivals since many MW have days off during these festivals and can access services more conveniently; 3) Migrants are confident in the quality of care and treatment provided by the Thai practitioners and, in some cases, more than in the clinicians of their own nationality. But they also look forward to the prospect of more exchange of health professionals during the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) era. This could increase the number of same-nationality clinicians to be assigned to health outlets in areas of Thailand with a large number of migrants. Having a clinician who is fluent in their language makes the migrant more comfortable with the service; 4) Migrants would like to see more health outlets located near their home, with service hours that are more suited to their free time; they would be happy to pay for these primary care health services if not covered by insurance; 5) Migrants would value greater availability of essential drugs, including contraceptives and condoms which can be resupplied through local health posts and/or DiC. These supplies could be managed through a revolving fund, meet essential care needs, and prevent the need for avoidable visits to the secondary care health outlets;
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6) Migrants prefer to go for health services at primary care outlets such as the THPH and municipal clinics because of the simpler process and the one-stop services without separate departments. This makes the client more confident, compared to going to the large hospitals which can be intimidating. Furthermore, if these local PHC outlets are part of the health insurance network of providers, then this would motivate more migrants to purchase health insurance; 7) Migrants agree strongly with the provision of interpreters to bridge the communication gap with health providers, and there should be enough interpreters to meet the need and at all clinics that are set up to separately serve the non-Thai migrants, and drug dispensaries to ensure compliance with prescribed therapy. At large hospitals, interpreters can help migrants navigate the complex system and get to the proper department in a timely way. For Lao migrants, even though Lao and Thai languages are similar, interpreter service is still needed in some situations; 8) Migrants acknowledge that there is a lot of health communication materials in their language (but less so for Lao) and this is important and should be extended to multi-lingual signs at the information/reception area of the hospital. This would help migrants to efficiently reach the proper hospital department; 9) The migrants felt that most of the Thai health providers were respectful to them; only a few migrants who were interviewed felt that some providers were not friendly. But they pointed out that, even if there are only a few staff who are impolite to migrants, this tarnishes the image of the entire hospital; 10) Migrants felt that they were treated equally as Thais by the health service system, including the distribution of queue numbers, examination, diagnosis, care, treatment, medicine dispensing, and special consideration of low-income clients; 11) Most migrants said they had enough money to pay primary care costs out-of-pocket, and understand the need of the hospital to collect some form of deposit for in-patients who do not have health insurance; 12) Migrants generally recognize the benefit of health insurance, and could probably afford the individual annual premium. One obstacle is the requirement of purchasing insurance for every family member at the same time, requiring a lump sum payment. They also feel that charging the same fee for insuring those age 7 to 15 years as adults is too expensive;
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13) Those migrants who have not purchased health insurance felt they did not need it because they are not dependent on a single hospital in the insurance network; most migrants in this group use private clinics for health care, or PHC outlets near home such as the THPH or municipal clinic, and pay out-of-pocket for services. 14) Migrants also felt that the year-to-year variation in registration of MW is an obstacle to accessing health insurance; 15) Most MW felt that the Social Security System is complex, and are more interested in annual health insurance, which should be more accessible by not requiring the guarantee by the employer, or having to pay for an agent to act on behalf of the employer as the guarantor. These reflections of the migrants were combined with the data from health service providers (public and private sectors) to inform recommendations for improving health services for migrants going forward.
3. Challenges in improving client-friendly health services Thailand is preparing to enter an era of greater cooperation among ASEAN community members with implications for the following sectors: (1) Political and security; (2) Economic development; and (3) Socio-cultural. Thailand has begun the process of orienting staff at various levels in order to be prepared for this regional cooperation. The Thai public health system needs to elevate the capacity of its health staff to be able to adapt to the new challenges, given the anticipated increase in migration into Thailand by migrants seeking employment and those only seeking medical care. As part of the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in December 2015, ASEAN plans to facilitate the movement of health professionals to and from member countries for work, and this could have significant effects on the profile of the Thai health system. The AEC era is also an opportunity to further develop the health care system to more fully balance the needs of Thais and migrants. Overall, developing client-friendly health services for migrants in Thailand primarily requires cultural competence of the Thai health providers so that they project positive attitudes, lack of prejudice, and a welcoming service for non-Thais. The culturally competent staff will be able to design a set of appropriate guidelines and standard operating procedures for providing equal services for migrants through static and outreach services which are tailored to the target population. The policies and promotion of
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client-friendly services should not focus only on the supply side, which enables the health system to best deliver services, but should also be designed based on a respect for health rights and profound understanding of the target population. The following challenges remain however, with recommendations on how to meet those challenges: 1) There is a need to develop guidelines for building the cultural competency of public health staff through orientation for newly-assigned staff and on-the-job training for all relevant staff on a periodic basis. To be successful, this process needs organizational support, such as the endorsement and promotion by administrators and section chiefs of the health outlet, including strong commitment of the staff. The health facility should create an enabling environment by allowing enough time and place for the training/ orientation, and increase support budget for services development. 2) There should be advocacy for cross-cultural competency as an essential learning component in clinical and health staff capacity building at all levels of Thailand, including integrated learning curricula in academic institutions, as part of the compulsory program of study or as an elective. Health professionals who learn technical content on cross-cultural competency should receive credit hours toward career advancement. 3) There is the need to design a service protocol based on core principles of health rights and client-centered care in a way that is consistent with the needs and special characteristics of the lifestyle, cultural and language of the migrants. This protocol should cover the various steps in the health service delivery process, with a sensitivity to the challenges which a migrant experiences that are different from that of mainstream Thais. These considerations start at the health card registration counter, segmentation of the health problem, queuing at the proper department, history taking, preliminary physical exam, general and specific diagnosis, appointment for follow-up visit, payment of fees, receiving the prescribed medicine, and instruction for treatment compliance. However, the medical treatment protocol is the same standard as that for Thai clients. 4) More support is needed, both funding and resources, to maintain the DiC and/or health posts. Both are community-based health outlets which offer some of the most client-friendly health services which are convenient, comfortable and familiar for migrants. Most of these outlets are operated by NGOs with assistance from migrants themselves, and have been in some locations for at least a decade. However, the
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funding for these special projects is from external sources and is nearing an end. 5) There need to be enough MHW in each health facility proportional to the number of migrant clientele. The primary roles of MHW should be, (1) Serve as interpreter between client and provider, especially in the migrant-specific clinics and hours of service; (2) Assist with outreach health services to migrant communities. There needs to be a clear position and career path for the MHW, with adequate allocation of government budget to retain these personnel over time. Some of the cost can be drawn from the MW health insurance premiums and fees, while other portions could be supported by the central government assistance to individual hospitals (from tax payments of migrants through their purchases). 6) All migrants should be covered by health insurance through a standard, annual renewal scheme. Migrants should be able to obtain this insurance directly without the need to go through their employer. There also needs to be a clear national policy on health insurance for migrants, with appropriate premiums and fees, and screening criteria for health exams consistent with the person’s age (e.g., children should have a nutritional assessment as part of the insurance enrollment). Measures are needed to ensure ability to cover all migrants residing in Thailand. 7) There need to be specific indicators of achievement of client-friendly health services for migrants by adaptation from the direct experience of the practical locations, as follows: Sample indicators of achievement by component of client-friendly health services for migrants ๏ Services that are consistent with the diversity of the client’s lifestyle and culture: The indicators include: (1) Staff are sensitive to and understand the diversity of the target population; (2) Cross-border migrants trust the Thai health staff, and cooperate with community outreach efforts without fear or avoidance; ๏ Services are compatible with the occupation and living conditions of the client: The indicators include: (1) Cross-border migrants can access primary care services at early sign of illness/need; (2) Primary care reduces the burden of care and costs at the secondary and tertiary-level health facilities;
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๏ There are community-based service outlets with convenient access: The indicators for this include: (1) The local health outlets are part of the health insurance network; (2) The DiC and health posts meet the health needs of the target client population; ๏ Provider and client are able to communicate well: The indicators for this are: (1) Adequate number of MHW in the health outlet; (2) Services are smooth and reduce conflict; quality of services improve; (3) Community outreach for communicable disease control is fast and efficient; ๏ Service is provided with respect and honor of the client’s humanity: The indicators for this are: (1) The provider is welcoming to the client; (2) There is no reporting of undocumented clients to the police; ๏ Services for migrants are the same standard as for Thais: The indicator for this is an increase in the number of clients; ๏ Service is affordable: The indicator of this might be the number who enroll in health insurance; ๏ Understanding of health rights: Most indicators for this dimension relate to activities, such as education of the target population about health insurance options; ๏ Promoting cooperation of MW employers: The indicator for this include: (1) Cooperation with outreach to the worksite; (2) Requests from the employer to conduct disease control in the worksite; (3) Cooperation in purchasing health insurance or making the employer contribution for SSS; ๏ Promotion of cooperation from the migrants and community: The indicators for this include: (1) Recruitment of peer educators from and for the community; (2) Peer educators are able to manage community health activities and make recommendations on improving health services; ๏ Cross-border linkages of the health systems: The indicators for this include: (1) Cooperation in health by neighboring provinces of the two countries on the border; (2) Patients who are referred home for on-going care receive continuing treatment and rehabilitation.
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8) There is a need to define guidelines for mobilization of funding for health promotion and disease prevention for migrants, both those with and without health insurance, including stateless persons or those without legal documents. There is a need for more involvement of the local administrative organizations and NGOs to provide outreach for efficient disease control. 9) The database on migrants needs to be improved, with different levels of storage and organization to make retrieval of information more efficient. For example, there could be a database at the operational area, another linked database for the province, and a linked national database on migrants. These data should be used to inform plans, developing guidelines for static and outreach health services, evaluation of quality of service, and augment research and development to expand client-friendly health services. 10) There is a need for more effective national policy to facilitate client-friendly health services for migrants by revising the Master Plan or strategies so that they produce clear implementation plans. This will enable a unified response in all provinces in the country with large numbers of migrants. Also, there should be a policy for human resource development in the health sector in anticipation of the increased number and diversity of migrants in the years ahead. There should be more bi-lateral agreements and policy to create formal linkages between the health systems with neighboring countries for efficient health management.
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REFERENCES NAME LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS RESEARCH TEAM AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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Raksthai Foundation. (2011). Report from the Meeting on Friendly Services in Contexts of Rights, Sexuality, Gender and Gender Role (รายงานการประชุมเรื่องการบริการที่เป็นมิตร ภายใต้กรอบสิทธิ เพศ เพศภาวะ และเพศวิถี). 19 – 20 May 2001 at Montien Hotel, Bangkok.
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Julia Puebla Fortier (2010). Migrant health Sensitive System: Global Consultation on Migrant Health. National School of Public Health. Madrid Spain. March 3-5, 2010. Retrieved from http://www. who.int/hac/events/2_migrant_sensitive_health_services_22Feb2010.pdf Kral Krajic, et al. (2005). Improving ethno cultural competency of health staff by training; Expression from the Europe, Migrant-Friendly Hospitals Project. Diversity in health and social care 2, 279290 Karl Krajic and Christa Strabmayr. (2004). Subproject C Staff training towards cultural competency, Migrant-Friendly Hospitals Project, Evaluation Report. December 2004 http://ec.europa.eu/health/ ph_projects/2002/promotion/fp_promotion_2002_annex6_14_en.pdf Nadeau L. & Measharm T. (2005). Immigrants and Mental Health Services- Increasing Collaboration with Other Service Providers. The Canadian Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 14 (3), 73-76. Nigoon Jitthai, Siriporn Yongpanichkul & Manhana Bijaisoradat. (2010). Migration and HIV/AIDS in Thailand: Triangualtion of biological, behavioural and programmatic response data in selected provinces. Bangkok: International Organization for Migrants. Nigoon Jitthai. (2009). Healthy Migrants, Healthy Thailand: A Migrant Health Program Model. Giurissevich L. (editor). Bangkok: International Organization for Migration and Ministry of Public Health. Nyunt Nine Thein. (n.d.). Policy Change in Support of Increased Access to Quality Health Care: Burmese Migrants in Thailand. Retrieved from http://www.google.co.th/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CEoQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.icsw. org%2Fdoc%2F0034_9e_Nyunt_Naing_Thein_Eng.ppt&ei=Iis2VMrWLsf8ugSI5oH4DQ&usg=AFQjCNFQjYbeiZxzh4SoU9tz-PIM9y_oGA&sig2=_W910ZGq0MukR5akooRKlQ in September 2014. Oberoi, P. Sotomayor, J. Pace, Paola. Rijks, B. Weekers, J. &Walilenge, Y. T. (2013). International Migration Health and Human Rights. Geneva: International Organization for Migrant. PATH and Cambodian Women for Peace and Development. (2010). Catalyzing Healthier Labor Migration: Working on health and development in source communities in Cambodia and destination in Thailand. Phnom Penh: PATH. Philipa Mladovsky (2011). Migrant Health Policy in Europe. Section VI, Chapter 12: Migration and health in the Europe Union. 185-201 Retrieved from www.euro.who.int/_data/assets/pdf_ file/0019/161560/e96458.pdf. Philipa Mladovsky, David Ingleby, Martin Mckee and Bernd Rechel. (2012). Good practices in Migrant Health: The European experiences. Clinical Medicine. Volum.12, No.3: 249. Priebe, S., Sandhu S., Dias S., Gaddini A., Greacen T., Ioannidis E., Kluge U., et al. (2011). Good practice in health care for migrants: Views and experiences of care professionals in 16 European
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countries. BioMed Center Public Health. 11:187 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-187. Saifi, Rumama A. (2006). Migration and Health: Evidence Form Kanchanaburi. IPSR Mahidol University. Sonja Novak-Zezula and Ursular Karl-Trummer. Services Provision for Undocumented Migrants in the EU: Factsheet. From Theory to Practice: Creative Action to Social Change. United-Conference, 16-21 May 2011. Bratislava. Retrieved from http://files.nowhereland.info/798.pdf in September 2014. Stefan Priebe et al. (2011). Good practices in health care for migrants: views and experiences of care professionals in 16 European countries. BMC Public Health, 11:187 retrieved from www. biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/187 in August, 2014. Migrant Friendly-Hospital. (2004). The Amsterdam Declaration Towards Migrant-Friendly Hospitals in an ethno-culturally diverse Europe. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_projects/2002/ promotion/fp_promotion_2002_annex7_14_en.pdf. The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the Sociology of Health and Medicine. (2003). Caring for migrant and minority patients in European hospitals: A review of effective interventions. Report for MFH – Migrant Friendly Hospitals, a European initiative to promote health and health literacy for migrants and ethnic minorities. Tussnai Kantayaporn and Siwanart Mallik. (2013). Migration and Health Service System in Thailand: Situation, Responses and Challenges in a Context of AEC in 2015. World Health Organization. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2004). Characteristics of Youth Friendly Services: FRESH Tools for Effective School Health. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/education/fresh in September 2014. World Health Organization. (2012). Making Health Services Adolescent Friendly: Developing National Quality Standards for Adolescent-Friendly Health Services. Switzerland: Inis Communication. World Health Organization - Europe. (2010). Youth-friendly policies and services in the European Region: Sharing experiences. Baltag, V. & Mathieson, A. (editors). Retrieved from http://www. euro.who.int. in September 2014. WHO regional Office for Europe. (2010). How health system can address health inequities linked to migration and ethnicity. Copenhagen. Page15. William Vimuktayon. (n.d.). Service Mind. Retrieved from http://www1.si.mahidol.ac.th/km/sites/default/ files/59.pdf in September 2014.
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NAME LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS ACRONYMS Public health officers, health care providers and NGO officers ๏ Tak Province 1. Pongpot Peanumlom Public Health Technical Officer, Community Medicine Group Work, Measort Hospital 2. Tawisa Umpong Registered Nurse, Community Medicine Group Work, Maesort Hospital 3. Sriwan Hannarong Technical Officer, District Public Health Office in Maesort 4. Phongpat Yutthanasathon Public Health Officer, Wangtakien Tambol Health Promotion Hospital 5. Malee Wongsakaew Border-community health worker, Wangtakien Tambol Health Promotion Hospital 6. Pattinee Suanprasert Director, Suwannimit Foundation 7. Namisi Jate Coordinator, MAP Foundation 8. Tanyathon Pongtonjirapat Project coordinator, World Vision Foundation ๏ Ranong Provice 1. Suthon Kumpet Head of Disease Control and Environmental Health Unit, Ranong Provincial Public Health Office 2. Ying Fungsoiraya Technical Officer, Disease Control Unit and Enviromental Health Unit, Ranong Provincial Public Health Office 3. Pairote Chuchat Head of Health Economy and International Public Health Unit, Ranong Provincial Public Health Office 4. Udom Gromyotha Head of Community Care Unit, Ranong Provincial Hospital 5. Pakawadee Promnuch Nurse, Counseling Unit, Ranong Provincial Hospital 6. Malee Yokyong Acting Director of Public Health and Environment Division, Ranong Town Municipality 7. Pranit Hongsa Nurse, Danthamuang Public Health Service Center, Ranong Town Municipality 8. Deunpen Saitwai Public Health Officer, Ban Mitrapab Tambol Health Promotion Hospital 9. Aye Ma Khin Migrant Health Worker, Ban Mitrapab Tambol Health Promoting Hospital 10. San San Htwe Migrant Health Worker, Danthamuang Public Health Service Center 11. Thitiya Samart Coordinator for Ranong Province, World Vision
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Foundation (Thailand) 12. Prasit Rugklin Coordinator, Marist Asia Foundation 13. Saranya Chittangwong Field Coordinator, International Organization for Migration ๏ Samuthsakorn Province 1. Kanitha Panraksa Head of Migrant health Unit, Community Medicine Group Work Samuthsakorn Hospital 2. Nahathai Chulkarat Head of Community Health Care Unit, Community Medicine Group Work, Samuthsakorn hospital 3. Prakongjite Pholin Director, Baan-Kamphra Community Hospital 4. Pronnipa Silanont Head of AIDS and STDs Unit, Provincial Health Office 5. Manunchaya Inklai Field Officer, Raksthai Foundation ๏ Rayong Province 1. Saowanee Ultrakul Head of Community Care Unit, Community Medicine Group Work, Rayong Provincial Hospital 2. Nisachul Chombuhpol Head of Health Promotion and Rehabilitation Unit, Community Medicine Group Work, Rayong Provincial Hospital 3. Sineenat Khunlertkit Head of Paknam Public Health Service Center, Rayong City Municipality 4. Suthichai RerkYamdee Coordinator for the Eastern Office, Foundation for AIDS Rights (FAR) 5. Sawee Ning Migrant Health Worker, Foundation for AIDS Rights (FAR) ๏ Trad Province 1. Nittaya Wangrattanasophon Public Health Officer of Disease Control Group Work, Trad Provincial Public Health Office 2. Monaiya Pruedthiparp Director, Klongyai Community Hospital 3. Sureerat Thanakit Deputy Director, Klongyai Community Hospital 4. Wanna Buthasane Program Manager, Rakthai Foundation ๏ Khonkaen Province 1. Daungrat Jaraspan Director, Samran Tambol Health Promotion Hospital
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Clients participating with Focus Group Discussion Cross-border Migrant from Myanmar (Samuthsakorn Province) 1. Somchai Sunthornwari 2. Chit San Oo 5. Ye Min Kyi 6. Maung Aung 1. Loem Pee 5. Oeun Kong 2. Chann Syeyleab 6. Duna Tuia 3. Zaw Zaw Latt 7. Naw Caroline 3. Sopeap Lem 7. Morm Khoen 4. Aung Ko Latt \
Cross-border Migrant from Cambodia (Rayong Province) 4. Channhoun Hai
Cross-border Migrant from Laos PDR (Khonkaen Province) 1. Chandee Mahachai 2. Lampai Srichompoo 3. Pon Wongpachan 4. Lod Wongprachan 5. Kito Sidthilad 6. Dawan Wongchai 7. Petchsamorn Insaeng 8. Buacam Suim aneephan 9. Lampai Piethep 10. Kamworn Insaeng
Research Team 1. Tussnai Kantayaporn (M.Sc., MPHC) Principal Investigator 2. Yuthapong Srivalai (M.Sc.) Researcher 3. Supa Vittaporn (M.A., PhD. candidate) Researcher 4. Siwanart Mallik (MPH) Researcher 5. Rananan Boonyopakorn (PhD. Candidate) Researcher
Acknowledgement 1. Tony Bennett 2. Aree Moungsookjareoun 3. Supparaporn Thammachart 4. Anchan Singchai Language Advisor Border and Migrant Health Officer and EPI Focal Point, WHO Country Office for Thailand Plan and policy analyst, Bureau of Policy and Strategy, MOPH Independent researcher Research Team
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Review of Client-Friendly Health Services for Cross-border Migrant in Thailand