Exploring migrants' health seeking strategies: the case of Latin American migrants in London

The objective of this paper is to examine the health seeking strategies of Latin American migrants in London.

The paper draws on a small case study analysis conducted with Latin American migrants in London and relevant stakeholders.

The paper highlights that even where Latin American migrants do have entitlements to use the NHS, a series of informal barriers limits their access. As a consequence many employ a range of transnational health‐seeking strategies in order to seek resolution to their health problems. These findings repeat those identified in other studies and point to the need to gain a better understanding of migrant's exclusion and marginalisation in relation to formal health care providers. At the same time, the findings point to the lack of long‐term resolution many migrants experience in relation to their health care needs, raising important questions about health inequalities.

Latin Americans represent a hugely diverse and heterogeneous group of migrants who have differing values and belief systems in relation to health care. A more detailed study is necessary in order to fully understand their health seeking behaviour in a UK context.

Latin Americans represent a “new migrant” population in the UK and are considerably under‐researched compared to more established migrant communities. At the same time they are an unrecognised group and are therefore excluded from many policy debates. This paper seeks to address this lack of knowledge.