Investigation of the barriers to access of Afghan immigrant children under 12 years of age to dental services living in Iran
Document Type : مقالههای پژوهشی
10.48305/jids.2025.45095.0
Abstract
Background and objective: Migration and asylum are very common phenomena in today's world, the main reason of which is insecurity, war and poverty. In the past decades, Iran has hosted a large population of Afghans, most of whom live in Iran illegally. The Afghan population residents in Iran include millions of people, a significant number of whom were born in Iran. Children who were born in Iran need the same health services as Iranians. This research was conducted in order to know the barriers to access of Afghan immigrant children to dental services.
Subjective and methods: Using an 11-question questionnaire that was standardized in previous studies, parents of Afghan children were asked about barriers to accessing services. Study was conducted in 4 cities: Qazvin; Tehran; Varamin and Karaj, which includes a high number of the Afghan population, and only people who live as immigrants were included in the study. The results were reported as descriptive statistics.
Results: Four hundred and fifty-eight people were participated in the study. Based on the results of the study, no Afghan child had access to supplementary insurance. Most of the participants (409) reported financial problems in paying the cost. The amount of voluntary check-up in them is very small (18) and lack of insurance was considered a major problem for them. It was not possible for them to access the public health centers, but it was possible for them to access the private sector. The problem of language and accent in communication with people was reported by 35 persons, and 187people stated that they felt that they were treated with discrimination when receiving services.
Conclusion: Immigrant children in Iran face barriers to access dental services, and the top of these obstacles are economic problems, lack of insurance and legal residency.
Subjective and methods: Using an 11-question questionnaire that was standardized in previous studies, parents of Afghan children were asked about barriers to accessing services. Study was conducted in 4 cities: Qazvin; Tehran; Varamin and Karaj, which includes a high number of the Afghan population, and only people who live as immigrants were included in the study. The results were reported as descriptive statistics.
Results: Four hundred and fifty-eight people were participated in the study. Based on the results of the study, no Afghan child had access to supplementary insurance. Most of the participants (409) reported financial problems in paying the cost. The amount of voluntary check-up in them is very small (18) and lack of insurance was considered a major problem for them. It was not possible for them to access the public health centers, but it was possible for them to access the private sector. The problem of language and accent in communication with people was reported by 35 persons, and 187people stated that they felt that they were treated with discrimination when receiving services.
Conclusion: Immigrant children in Iran face barriers to access dental services, and the top of these obstacles are economic problems, lack of insurance and legal residency.
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