HEALTH and SOCIAL CARE for Migrants and Ethnic Minorities In EUROPE. A PILOT STUDY for Turkey “HEALTH SERVICE Usage and CHRONIC DISEASE FREQUENCY In the FIRST and the Second GENERATION Migrants”

The aim of this study is to determine the chronic disease frequency and health service utilization of the primary and second generation migrants living in Bandýrma and Gönen Districts of Balýkesir and in Çanakkale.

In this project, migrants living in Balýkesir Bandýrma district and Çanakkale Kumkale town were interviewed and a questionnaire on the chronic disease presence, the status of health services utilization and WHOQOL-BREF quality of life scale were applied by with face to face technique. The blood pressure of the migrants was measured and diabetes mellitus (DM) screening was conducted.  A total of 354 migrants included the study.  The 55.9% of the study population was female and 44.1% male, the mean age was 57.7±13.8.  The 49.4% of the study population were primary and 50.6% were second generation migrants. The origin of the 89.8 % was Bulgaria, 2.6% Greece, 2% former Yugoslavia and 5.6% was Romania. DM was determined among 16.1%of the migrants. 6.5 % of them had potential chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 30.8% of them had high blood pressure, 8.5 % reported that they have been diagnosed with peptic ulcers/gastritis. 55.6% of the migrants preferred first primary health care centers and mother-child health and family planning centers to take health care service and 39.2 % of them preferred state hospitals. The mean quality of life score of the migrants, evaluated on a 100 points scale, was 65.44± 13.07.

In conclusion, the frequency of chronic disease is high and the quality of life level is on a moderate level. Taking into account that the migrants prefer the primary health care centers as the first choice to take health care service, the primary health care services requires to be strengthened according to the needs of this population.