Department of Public Health, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Atlántico, Colombia.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2023 Mar 30;18(3):e0274157. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274157. eCollection 2023.
Colombia is currently the world's main recipient country for Venezuelan migrants, and women represent a high proportion of them. This article presents the first report of a cohort of Venezuelan migrant women entering Colombia through Cúcuta and its metropolitan area. The study aimed to describe the health status and access to healthcare services among Venezuelan migrant women in Colombia with irregular migration status, and to analyze changes in those conditions at a one-month follow-up.
We carried out a longitudinal cohort study of Venezuelan migrant women, 18 to 45 years, who entered Colombia with an irregular migration status. Study participants were recruited in Cúcuta and its metropolitan area. At baseline, we administered a structured questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics, migration history, health history, access to health services, sexual and reproductive health, practice of early detection of cervical cancer and breast cancer, food insecurity, and depressive symptoms. The women were again contacted by phone one month later, between March and July 2021, and a second questionnaire was applied.
A total of 2,298 women were included in the baseline measurement and 56.4% could be contacted again at the one-month follow-up. At the baseline, 23.0% of the participants reported a self-perceived health problem or condition in the past month and 29.5% in the past 6 months, and 14.5% evaluated their health as fair or poor. A significant increase was found in the percentage of women who reported a self-perceived health problem during the past month (from 23.1% to 31.4%; p<0.01); as well as in the share who reported moderate, severe, or extreme difficulty working or performing daily chores (from 5.5% to 11.0%; p = 0.03) and who rated their health as fair (from 13.0% to 31.2%; p<0.01). Meanwhile, the percentage of women with depressive symptoms decreased from 80.5% to 71.2% (p<0.01).
This report presents initial information on the health status of Venezuelan migrant women in Colombia, and is a starting point for further longer longitudinal follow-ups to assess changes over time in health conditions.
哥伦比亚目前是世界上委内瑞拉移民的主要接收国，而女性在其中占比很高。本文首次报告了一批通过库库塔及其大都市区进入哥伦比亚的委内瑞拉移民女性的队列。该研究旨在描述哥伦比亚无正规移民身份的委内瑞拉移民女性的健康状况和获得医疗保健服务的情况，并分析一个月随访时这些情况的变化。
我们对 18 至 45 岁的进入哥伦比亚的无正规移民身份的委内瑞拉移民女性进行了纵向队列研究。研究参与者在库库塔及其大都市区招募。在基线时，我们使用结构问卷进行了调查，其中包括社会人口特征、移民史、健康史、获得医疗服务的情况、性健康和生殖健康、宫颈癌和乳腺癌早期检测的实践、粮食不安全和抑郁症状。2021 年 3 月至 7 月期间，我们通过电话再次联系了这些女性，并应用了第二个问卷。
共有 2298 名女性参加了基线测量，其中 56.4%可在一个月随访时再次联系。在基线时，23.0%的参与者报告在过去一个月内有自我感知的健康问题或状况，29.5%在过去 6 个月内有这种情况，14.5%评估自己的健康状况为一般或较差。报告过去一个月内有自我感知健康问题的女性比例显著增加（从 23.1%增加到 31.4%；p<0.01）；报告中度、重度或极重度工作或日常活动困难的女性比例也有所增加（从 5.5%增加到 11.0%；p=0.03），以及报告健康状况一般的女性比例（从 13.0%增加到 31.2%；p<0.01）。与此同时，有抑郁症状的女性比例从 80.5%下降到 71.2%（p<0.01）。
本报告首次提供了哥伦比亚委内瑞拉移民女性健康状况的初步信息，是进一步进行更长时间纵向随访以评估健康状况随时间变化的起点。
