Sri Lankan migrant women domestic workers: health insurance provision, access to healthcare and health status January 2014 – June 2015

Overview

This project explores issues relating to Sri Lankan migrants working as domestic workers in the Gulf States and other Middle Eastern countries. Despite academic studies and reports on the workplace situation of Sri Lankan migrant domestic workers, and media and human rights organisations’ reports of physical, mental and sexual abuse of individual women by employers, the absence of systematic evidence relating specifically to health and access to healthcare is a knowledge gap.

This project will systematically collect and analyse evidence in depth about: 1) the gaps in health insurance provision relating to the entire migration process, including in the implementation of existing health insurance schemes in destination countries for this category of low paid migrant workers; 2) implications for their access to healthcare and health status in the entire migration process; 3) policy or practice barriers to effective insurance provision and to ensuring good health and access to social rights for such migrants, and 4) how to resolve this with reference also to best practices from other migrant domestic worker sending countries in the region. In doing so, it will produce and share knowledge that will contribute to informed policies and best practices that will improve the health of a key category of Sri Lankan migrants.

Topics

GenderHealthLow Skilled MigrationPoliciesRights

Regions

Asia

Theory

Health as a form of border control in defining emigration and immigration policies; the intersection of class and gender inequalities as a barrier to achieving human rights in health.

Methods

The methods include semi-structured qualitative interviews with pre-departure and returned migrants, and with a range of stakeholders – e.g. key government officials formulating and implementing policy at national and local levels, recruitment and insurance agents, welfare and healthcare providers, civil society organisations.

Outputs

Access to Healthcare, Insurance Provision and Health Status of Sri Lankan Migrant Domestic Workers
Reports | Hiranthi Jayaweera, Elizabeth H. Shlala and the Centre for Women's Research (CENWOR) | 2015

Impact

Plan for impact include presenting findings to key stakeholders in Sri Lanka and getting input into recommendations to the Sri Lankan government towards providing better health protection to migrant domestic workers.