Sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence among female migrants in Morocco: a cross sectional survey

Abstract

Background Over the past decade, Morocco has increasingly become the chosen destination for a growing number of migrants from neighbouring countries and especially from Sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this study is to describe the sexual and reproductive health (SRH), as well as sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) among female migrants in Morocco. Methods This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted between July and December 2021. Female migrants were recruited from one university maternity hospital and two primary healthcare centres in Rabat. Data were collected using a structured face-to-face questionnaire, which included information about sociodemographic characteristics, SRH, history of SGBV and its impact, as well as the utilization of preventive and supportive SGBV services. Results A total of 151 participants were included in this study. The majority of participants (60.9%) were aged 18 to 34 years old and 83.3% were single. Many participants (62.1%) did not use contraceptives. More than half (56%) of the participants who were pregnant at the time of the study were receiving pre-natal care. About 29.9% of interviewed participants reported experiencing female genital mutilation, and a significant majority (87.4%) experienced SGBV at least once during their lifetimes, while 76.2% experienced SGBV during migration. The most commonly reported form of violence was verbal abuse (75.8%). Among the victims of SGBV, a minority have visited a health facility (7%) or filed a complaint (9%) in the aftermath of violence. Conclusion Overall, our findings showed low contraception coverage, moderate access to prenatal care, high prevalence of SGBV, and low utilization of preventive and supportive SGBV services among migrant women in Morocco. Further studies are needed to understand the contextual barriers to access, and utilization of SRH care and additional efforts should be undertaken to strengthen SGBV prevention and support systems.

Gendered risks: access to and utilization of sexual and reproductive health services among young migrants in Southwestern Uganda: the role of the ‘lending a hand’ intervention

“…Being economically insecure pre-disposed the young people in our study to risk. From a gendered perspective, some of the young women engaged in transactional sex with multiple clients to supplement the little income earned and this heightened their risk to unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortion and STI and HIV infections as has been similarly noted in other studies (7,11,25,26). Consequently, the immediate risk faced by the women meant that they had to engage with SRH services quickly as they needed treatment.…”

“…Researchers have noted low utilization of SRH services among migrants compared to non-migrants (9,10). Poorer SRH outcomes have been recorded among migrant girls and women compared to the men (11,12). In particular, young migrants have challenges navigating the health care landscape partly due to lack of familial support and sometimes language barriers (13) and stigma attached to seeking the services (14).…”