The City of Johannesburg is home to many migrants from different parts of the world and language is one of many barriers that prevent migrants from accessing services such as healthcare.

In partnership with African Migrants Solidarity (AMIS), the City of Johannesburg enables migrants easier access to health services through a Translation Project where interpreters are placed at various clinics to assist health care providers when communicating with migrants. Currently, volunteer interpreters assist Portuguese and French speaking migrants. 

Through this project, migrants can access day to day health services, emergency services, antenatal care, family planning, chronic medication, TB and ARV treatment at these clinics irrespective of their status. The clinics serve more than 11 000 migrants per month, most of them child bearing women. This service is particularly useful since, in some cases, migrants do not seek healthcare advice for treatable conditions because they are afraid of being misunderstood.

“Johannesburg is the only city with a Migrant Helpdesk.  This is a great initiative that can be replicated in other provinces to allow migrants easier access to services,” says Dr. Erick Ventura, Chief of Mission at IOM South Africa.

Dr. Davide Mosca, global head of Migration Health department based in Geneva recently visited some of these migrant-friendly clinics in Johannesburg.