Access to healthcare for migrants in Tunisia in 2023-2024: Current situation and ethical challenges.

Abstract

Introduction: Transformed progressively into a transit country towards Europe but also as a host, Tunisia has seen a diversification of migratory movements since the 2011 revolution, as well as the profiles of migrants who face multiple difficulties that can have an impact on their health.

Aim: This update aimed to expose the situation of migrants in Tunisia regarding access to healthcare, and to raise the ethical issues that result from it.

Results: Providing care to vulnerable individuals, especially migrants, compels us to reevaluate our practices and question ourselves. Ethical questioning is constant to determine how to do well and not harm. The reflection on this more humane "social medicine" comprehending the patient in its entirety, is only in its beginnings. The critical health status of the poorest populations and their extreme vulnerability do not only call for adapted and specific care measures but also a more comprehensive questioning of social ties and the place that our society grants to the weakest and excluded.

Conclusion: Migration must be considered as a central issue of the ethics of the health of a population in order to provide quality care without prejudice.