Determinants of Provision of Public Health Care Services to Asylum Seekers in Nairobi City County, Kenya
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Date
2021
Authors
Gikonyo, Beatrice Mumbi
Kiruthu, Felix
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Academic Journals
Abstract
Globally, up to 59% of asylum seekers live
in urban areas as opposed to camps and
rural areas. A collaborative strategic plan
to provide individuals with quality
healthcare that is safe and nondiscriminatory irrespective of one’s
immigration status formulated in 2011
guaranteed asylum seekers access to the
publicly provided healthcare facilities as
their Kenyan neighbors. The objective of
public provision of social services is
mainly to deliver social protection to the
poor and vulnerable and public officers are
faced with the task of providing limited
services to a population with varying
health needs from different backgrounds
and immigration status. This research
aimed to establish the determinants of
provision of public health care services to
asylum seekers in Nairobi City, Kenya.
That is, by determining the influence of
possession of legal identification
documents, official guidelines, and
language barriers on the provision of
health care services to asylum seekers
settled in Dagoretti South Sub-County.
iThe istudy iwas iguided iby ithe
Principal-Agent and Bureaucracy theories.
The choice of research design was
descriptive research. The targeted
population were public officers in the
public health facilities in Dagoretti South
Sub-County. The study targeted 8 public
healthcare facilities with a total population
of 148. The census method was used and
therefore all the 148 officers were included
in the study sample. The data in the
current study was from primary and
secondary sources. Primary data was
obtained using self-directed, semistructured questionnaires. Quantitative and
qualitative data was obtained using selfdirected, semi - structured interviews.
Prior to the final analysis, the study carried
out a pilot research. Quantitative data was
collected and presented in the form of
descriptive statistics such as amounts,
means/averages, standard deviations, and
percentages, among others, while
inferential statistics measured the
relationship and magnitude between
variables. Inferential statistics determined
the causation between the predictor and
the predicted variable. Qualitative
information was dissected utilizing content
investigation and the outcomes were
presented in themes. The findings
indicated that legal identification
documents (β=0.288, p=0.001) and official
guidelines (β=0.243, p=0.003) had a
positive and significant relationship with
the provision of healthcare services in
Nairobi City County. However, language
barriers and the provision of healthcare
services in Nairobi City County were
negatively and significantly related (β=-
0.312, p=0.020). iBased ion ifindings: ithe
istudy iconcluded ithat it is critical for
asylum seekers to have identification
documents to access publicly provided
health care services. Therefore, provision
of identification documentation should be
timely, less tedious, and easy. Similarly,
official guidelines were found to enable
access to public healthcare services and
greater understanding of the same among
health workers would positively benefit
asylum seekers. The study also established
the need for the public health facilities to
have official translators or alternative
arrangements for translation services, and
adequate resourcing of public health
facilities.
Description
An Article Published in International Academic Journal of Arts and Humanities