Healthcare Utilisation of Moluccans in the Netherlands: Equal Care for Equal Need after 60 Years of Residence in the Host Country?

Adee Bodewes, Charles Agyemang, Karien Stronks and Anton E. Kunst
Additional contact information
Adee Bodewes: Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Charles Agyemang: Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Karien Stronks: Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Anton E. Kunst: Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 Amsterdam, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 23, 1-12

Abstract: Background: In many countries, recent migrants have difficulties using healthcare to the same extent as host populations. It is uncertain whether these differences persist for long-settled migrants. This study examined healthcare utilisation of Moluccans in 2012, more than 60 years after they migrated from Indonesia to the Netherlands. Methods: A survey was held among 715 Moluccans and 3417 Dutch persons. Differences in healthcare utilisation were assessed using regression analyses adjusting for age, gender, indicators of health, religious affiliation, and education. Results: Moluccans had lower rates of healthcare use, including visits to the general practitioner (odds ratio (OR) = 0.67), outpatient medical specialist (OR = 0.50), dentist (OR = 0.65), and physiotherapist (OR = 0.56), as well as the use of paid housekeeping services (OR = 0.37). Among those who visited a healthcare service, no difference was found between Moluccans and Dutch in the frequency of visits, except for physiotherapist visits (rate ratio (RR) = 0.51). For the risk of hospitalisation, no difference was found; however, of those admitted to the hospital, the frequency of admission was lower among Moluccans than Dutch (RR = 0.74). Conclusions: Despite their long residence in the host country, equal utilisation of healthcare services has not been achieved for Moluccans in the Netherlands. Demand-based factors (e.g., family networks, health beliefs, and use of traditional medicine) may contribute to the persistence of such differences and require further investigation.

Keywords: healthcare utilisation; Moluccans; migrants; healthcare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/8710/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/8710/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:23:p:8710-:d:449961

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().