Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, P. O Box LG 96, Accra, Ghana.
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Reprod Health. 2021 Apr 17;18(1):81. doi: 10.1186/s12978-021-01138-3.
Migration and involuntary displacement of children and young people have recently become common features of many African countries due to widespread poverty, rapid urbanization, joblessness, and instability that motivate them to seek livelihoods away from their places of origin. With limited education and skills, children become vulnerable socioeconomically, thereby exposing themselves to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) risks.
Against this background, the authors undertook a scoping review of the existing literature between January and June 2019 to highlight current knowledge on SRH of African migrant and refugee children. Twenty-two studies that met the inclusion criteria were reviewed.
The results identified overcrowding and sexual exploitation of children within refugee camps where reproductive health services are often limited and underutilized. They also reveal language barriers as key obstacles towards young migrants' access to SRH information and services because local languages used to deliver these services are alien to the migrants. Further, cultural practices like genital cutting, which survived migration could have serious reproductive health implications for young migrants. A major gap identified is about SRH risk factors of unaccompanied migrant minors, which have received limited study, and calls for more quantitative and qualitative SRH studies on unaccompanied child migrants. Studies should also focus on the different dimensions of SRH challenges among child migrants differentiated by gender, documented or undocumented, within or across national borders, and within or outside refugee camps to properly inform and situate policies, keeping in mind the economic motive and spatial displacement of children as major considerations.
The conditions that necessitate economic-driven migration of children will continue to exist in sub-Saharan Africa. This will provide fertile grounds for child migration to continue to thrive, with diverse sexual and reproductive health risks among the child migrants. There is need for further quantitative and qualitative research on child migrants' sexual and reproductive health experiences paying special attention to their differentiation by gender, documented or undocumented, within or across national borders and within or outside refugee camps.
由于普遍贫困、快速城市化、失业和不稳定等原因，儿童和年轻人的迁移和非自愿流离失所最近成为许多非洲国家的常见特征，这促使他们离开原籍地寻求生计。由于受教育程度和技能有限，儿童在社会经济方面变得脆弱，从而使他们面临性健康和生殖健康风险。
在此背景下，作者于 2019 年 1 月至 6 月期间对现有文献进行了范围综述，以突出非洲移民和难民儿童性健康和生殖健康的现有知识。综述了符合纳入标准的 22 项研究。
结果表明，在生殖健康服务往往有限且未充分利用的难民营中，儿童拥挤不堪且容易受到性剥削。语言障碍也是年轻移民获取性健康信息和服务的主要障碍，因为用于提供这些服务的当地语言对移民来说是陌生的。此外，像生殖器切割这样的文化习俗在移民中幸存下来，可能对年轻移民的生殖健康产生严重影响。一个主要的差距是关于无人陪伴的未成年移民的性健康风险因素，这方面的研究很少，需要更多关于无人陪伴的儿童移民的性健康风险因素的定量和定性研究。研究还应侧重于按性别、有证件或无证件、在国界内或国界外、在难民营内或难民营外区分的儿童移民的不同维度的性健康挑战，以便在考虑到儿童的经济动机和空间流离失所的情况下，为政策提供适当的信息和定位。
需要经济驱动的儿童迁移的条件将继续存在于撒哈拉以南非洲地区。这将为儿童迁移提供肥沃的土壤，使儿童移民面临多样化的性健康和生殖健康风险。需要对儿童移民的性健康和生殖健康经历进行更多的定量和定性研究，特别要注意按性别、有证件或无证件、在国界内或国界外、在难民营内或难民营外区分的情况。
