WGH Spain Celebrates its Third Anniversary Giving a Voice to Migrant Women Driving Improvements in Healthcare

More than eighty people attended the annual meeting of Women in Global Health Spain (WGH Spain) on 27 November, held at the Media-TIC building in Barcelona with support from ISGlobal. The event focused on a roundtable led by five migrant women working to improve healthcare for other women in similar situations.

“These events are meant to celebrate ourselves,” said Neus Rossell, president of WGH Spain, pleased, addressing the audience that filled the Lidera room, provided by BCN Activa.

Language, Cultural, Social, and Work Barriers

Layla Bellach Elkasimi recalled how, as a young girl in Madrid, she had to accompany her mother to the doctor to act as a translator, even for gynecological appointments. Today, as a professional translator and intercultural mediator at the NGO Salud entre Culturas, she continues explaining complex procedures, such as informed consents, to women facing multiple vulnerabilities due to being both women and migrants, advocating for more support.

From left to right: Stella Evangelidou, Layla Bellach Elkasimi, and Angela Amankwaa Gymfi.

The challenges go far beyond language. Speakers highlighted persistent stereotypes about migrant women’s sexuality, how their pain is often minimized, and how they are infantilized. On top of that, labor and economic precariousness, combined with institutional racism, stigmatization, and isolation, increase the risks of anxiety and depression. “There is no mental health without social justice,” noted Stella Evangelidou, global mental health researcher and transcultural psychiatrist at ISGlobal.

Speakers also highlighted legal obstacles to obtaining a health card or purchasing private health insurance, as explained by Angela Amankwaa Gymfi, healthcare professional.

“We are a sick collective”: the reality of Las Kellys

Particularly impactful was the testimony of Vania Arana, founder and leader of the Las Kellys Cataluña union: “Housekeepers are a sick collective. 90% of us have a chronic illness, increasingly at younger ages.” She denounced worsening working conditions, with requirements reaching 20–25 rooms in 6-hour shifts. At 58 years old and with several health issues, she summarized: “When you are young they squeeze you, and when you are older they discard you.”

Learning from migrant communities

The final intervention was by Bombo Ndir Fall, president of the Associació de Dones Immigrants Subsaharianes and activist in human rights, feminism, and anti-racism, recognized with the Creu de Sant Jordi 2023: “We must stand up. Healthcare professionals need to engage with migrant communities, also to learn from their knowledge, which in Africa is primarily oral,” she emphasized.

The event also included a fun “Pasapalabra” activity with WGH members and concluded with a networking reception designed to foster connections and build new alliances, crucial to continue advancing towards more equitable healthcare for migrant women.