The Needs of Pregnant Asylum Seekers

Refugee Women’s News

Sept Oct 2004

In 2002, the Maternity Alliance published Mothers in Exile: Maternity experiences of asylum seekers in England, a landmark report that explored the plight of pregnant asylum-seeking women and their babies in the UK,

The report found that pregnant asylum seekers struggled to survive in a system that often treated them with indifference, suspicion and contempt. It found that emergency and temporary accommodation often put the health of asylum seeking women and their babies at serious risk, that the voucher system was inadequate to support maternal and infant health, and that access to healthier and maternity services was seriously compromised due to the dispersal policy, a lack of information and interpreting services and racism amongst NHS staff.

The Maternity Alliance has been monitoring the situation for asylum seeking women and their babies since Mothers in Exile was published, Accommodation for asylum seekers continues to be of very poor quality. A recent report commissioned by the Mayor of London found that asylum seekers' accommodation is at best sub-standard and at worst unfit for human habitation, often being infested, with poor heating and ventilation, a lack of adequate washing facilities, little privacy or security, and lacking in play spaces for children. Accommodation provided by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) remains on a no-choice basis and involves dispersal to designated areas anywhere in the UK. The Parliamentary Health Committee's 2003 Report on Inequalities in Access to Maternity Services, to which the Maternity Alliance gave evidence confirmed that the dispersal system exacerbates the problems asylum seeking women face in securing good quality maternity care.

Levels of financial support for pregnant asylum seekers also remain extremely low, Asylum seekers, including pregnant women, supported by NASS receive the equivalent of 70 per cent of basic income support, Research by the Maternity Alliance has shown that even full income support does not cover the costs of a modest but adequate diet for pregnant women and their babies.

(regnant asylum seekers are entitled to a maternity grant of £300 for which they must apply to NASS in English between four weeks before their baby is due and two weeks after birth, The grant is only payable two weeks before the due date. According to a recent Refugee Council/Oxfam survey, 25 per cent of organisations working with asylum seekers said their clients did not know about the grant, 55 per cent said the grant was difficult to claim, and 65 per cent said it was not enough to meet maternity costs. Pregnant women with babies under three years old can also receive an additional payment of £3 per week, and babies under one are entitled to an additional payment of £5 per week. However, to receive these payments women must apply to NASS in English and supply relevant medical documentation. This can be extremely difficult for many asylum seeking women.

Recent developments in asylum policy have raised major concerns about the health and well being of pregnant asylum seekers and their Rabies, particularly the amendment of the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitor) Regulations 1989 which came into force on 1st April 2004. Under the amended regulations, asylum seekers at the end of the asylum process will have to pay for non-urgent in-patient hospital care.

The British Medical Association has said that the guidelines could result in failed asylum seekers being abandoned by the health care system. There have already been media reports about pregnant asylum seekers with HIV being refused Caesarean sections (which help prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child) as these were deemed to be 'emergency' care. As the National AIDS Trust has warned, such a strategy is counter productive as it is likely to result in an increase in HIV rates.

Pregnancy and the first months of a baby's life are crucial for child development and neglect during this period may have lifelong consequences. Ignoring the needs of pregnant asylum seekers and their babies is a short sighted strategy. Some of these mothers and children are likely to be granted asylum and to remain in the UK. Public services like the NHS and schools will end up paying the price of potentially preventable ill health and disability and poor child development. Those families who are not granted asylum may be returned to countries with perilous social and political conditions and where no health infrastructure exists. A baby's chances of survival may be affected by their mother's health in pregnancy and their own health and development while in England. 

Either way, these babies deserve as good a start in life as any other baby born in the country. Over the coming months, the Maternity Alliance will be working with a range of organisations to ensure they get just that.

Article by The Maternity Alliance

For further information

or to order a copy of "Mothers in Exile" (£5.00 plus p&p):

www. maternityalliance.org.uk The Maternity Alliance

Unit 3.3, 2-6 Northburgh Street London EC1V 0AY Switchboard: 020-74907639 Second-Tier Advice Line: 0845 6013386 (2pm-4pm Monday-Thursday)

Genet was denied any financial support and could not even find a GP who would register her. She was forced to leave her temporary accommodation in Newcastle, where she had been dispersed to from London. She became destitute and spent months sleeping rough on the street and in bus shelters without proper food or medication.

As Genet says: "Pregnancy is a very important time for a woman - she needs help and protection. This should not happen to any woman, asylum seeker or not"

By chance, Genet heard of a women's group in London and, through. the help of a local church, gathered enough money to travel back there. The Crossroads Women's Centre in Kentish Town, hosts a range of voluntary groups that support women asylum seekers by providing them with healthy meals, which are sometimes the only ones the women will eat each day, travel and other basic expenses, and advocacy. The Centre proved invaluable to Genet's subsequent survival and birth experience.

Genet eventually gave birth to a healthy son in June 2004 and has now been able to file a fresh asylum claim with the help of a new solicitor - based on UNHCR and Amnesty International. reports which document the torture and disappearance of returned asylum seekers in Eritrea and recommend that governments put a stop to returns to this country.

However, Genet still does not get even basic levels of support for herself and her son. She has been unable to register with a GP and the only financial support she has received is four weekly payments of £25 - barely enough to feed herself, let alone buy vital items for her son, like nappies.

Genet constantly worries about the health of her baby, whether she will be deported and where she and her son will live. When asked about her hopes and aspirations for the future, Genet says every day is simply a struggle to survive.

For further information contact Nicola Ravden: nicola@ravden.com

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