Culture and the health of migrants: comparative views between healthcare professionals and Bolivian migrant women

Abstract

This paper analyzes the perceptions of healthcare teams and Bolivian migrant women of healthcare in the cities of Córdoba and Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina. This descriptive and analytical study used a qualitative methodology based on in-depth interviews and participant observation. It demonstrates the culturalist and essentialist vision of healthcare that characterizes the stereotypical views of healthcare teams in regard to migrant women. Said views can obscure the structural conditions of social inequality. In this scenario, migrants rationally develop a series of strategies where they resort to self-care practices and community networks as a way to overcome said inequalities. The intersectional perspective highlights the foci of inequality that intersect the health of migrant women in restrictive healthcare contexts, as well as the meanings and implications that these variables have on the particularities associated with their physical care and health.