Immigrants facing Covid 19 containment in France : An ordinary hardship of disaffiliation

Abstract

Highlights The precarious immigrant population is often invisible because it is at the interstices of care devices and, in the current epidemic context, isolation facilities. Confinement affects individuals' abilities to act, and generates a "disaffiliation process" to placing this precarious immigrant population even more on the margins of society. Covid-19 crisis exacerbates pre-existing difficulties, generating not so new situations for these precarious immigrant population. Need to formulate specifics interventions : targeted outreach intervention, participatory approach and deliberative spaces ; promote health promotion intervention; right based intervention.

Social and mental health risks faced by undocumented migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from three surveys in France

“…Overall, the reported levels of social disadvantage are very high: food insecurity, job loss and feelings of depression were experienced by a large share of the undocumented migrant population compared to the general population (14). The situation regarding knowledge on prevention is ambivalent: on the one hand, we found high levels of adherence to preventive gestures, which were also reported in qualitative research (15,16). On the other hand, the knowledge of asymptomatic transmission of the SARS-COV-2 virus is rather low, which could mean the public communication was focused only on certain preventive gestures (physical distancing, washing hands) and not on delivering a full information about how the disease spreads.…”

Deterioration of mental health and insufficient Covid-19 information among disadvantaged immigrants in the greater Paris area

“…Overall, 30% stated that they did not receive sufficient information from the authorities concerning the epidemic. Finally, regarding strategies to preserve one's health, the majority of participants mentioned barrier measures (masks, hand washing, physical distancing), which is in line with qualitative evidence showing a strict respect of barrier measures and lockdown instructions in this population [ 7 ].…”

“…A recent study conducted in Switzerland found poor mental health among undocumented migrants during the COVID-19-related lockdown [ 5 ] and a recent meta-analysis underlined that having a lower socio-economic status and experiencing social isolation are risk factors for depression and anxiety during the pandemic [ 6 ]. Previous qualitative work showed how the fear of the new coronavirus and the fear of being arrested exacerbated by police presence in the public space, as well as global uncertainty regarding livelihood, were major determinants of mental health during the first lockdown [ 7 ].…”

COVID-19 as a social disease: qualitative analysis of COVID-19 prevention needs, impact of control measures and community responses among racialized/ethnic minorities in Antwerp, Belgium

“…In turn, living in crowded housing conditions may result in difficulties to comply with protection measures such as physical distancing [ 16 ] increasing COVID-19 exposure risk at individual [ 17 ] and community levels [ 9 , 18 ]. In addition, irregular migration status often restricts access to health care services and testing facilities in many European countries [ 19 ]. COVID-19 and its control measures may thus amplify existing barriers to healthcare, contributing to increasing health inequities [ 20 ].…”