Access to healthcare services and confidence in healthcare professionals' management of malaria: the views of Francophone sub-Saharan African Immigrants living in western Canada

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 23; no. 1; p. 2456
• Main Authors: Vincent, Rémi, Coulibaly, Kongnon Sangué, Ahmed, Ali, Ahmed, Youssef, Hanna, Taylor A, Ravi, Srilata, Hawkes, Michael T, Gnidehou, Sedami
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 08.12.2023; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Access to Care; Alberta; Analysis; Attitude; Attitudes; Beliefs, opinions and attitudes; Canada; Care and treatment; Demographic aspects; Emigrants and Immigrants; Family medicine; Female; French speaking-immigrant; Health aspects; Health care; Health care industry; Health insurance; Health professional; Health services; Health Services Accessibility; Humans; Immigrants; International economic relations; Malaria; Malaria - therapy; Male; Medical personnel; Medical treatment; Perception; Physician and patient; Physicians; Public health; Quantitative; Sociodemographics; Statistical analysis; Sub-Saharan Africa; Tropical diseases; Vector-borne diseases; Alberta; Canada; France; Sub-Saharan Africa; Access to Care; Quantitative; Health professional; Malaria; French speaking-immigrant; Sub-Saharan Africa
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-17266-3

There is a paucity of knowledge about the healthcare attitudes and practices of French-speaking immigrants originating from Sub-Saharan Africa (FISSA) living in minority settings. The purpose of this study was to characterize FISSA healthcare experiences and confidence in the malaria-related knowledge of health professionals in Edmonton. A structured survey was used to examine a cohort of 382 FISSA (48% female; 52% male) living in Edmonton. FISSA general healthcare attitudes, experiences and satisfaction with the Canadian healthcare system were studied. Healthcare Competency Perception (HCP) was characterized by using an index score. Statistical analyses were performed to evaluate the impact of healthcare experiences and other outcomes. Intriguingly, while only 42% of FISSA had a French-speaking family physician, 83% (197/238) of those who had received health care services in Alberta found that access to medical treatment was easy, and 77% (188/243) were satisfied with received care. Although 70% (171/243) of FISSA did not receive services in French, 82% (199/243) surprisingly reported having good levels of comprehension during their visits. Satisfaction with care was associated with having a family physician (p = 0.018) and having health insurance (p = 0.041). Nevertheless, confidence in the healthcare system's ability to treat malaria effectively was significantly lower, with only 39% (148/382) receiving a positive score on the HCP index. This study provides an important insight into FISSA experience with and perception of the Alberta's healthcare system.