Anna*, a hairdresser from Benin City in Nigeria, experienced abuse at the hands of her father. Unable to receive justice due to lack of strong evidence, she decided to flee. Tempted by promises of better economic opportunities, Anna embarked on an irregular migration journey, unaware of the dangers that awaited her.
“It was at my workplace that I got information [about migration],” she said. “My boss claimed his brother’s wife was abroad and I could work for her, and if I migrated out of the country now that I had all these hairdressing skills, I was going to make a lot of money in just a week, enough to pay off my [new] boss (madam).”
Loaded into overcrowded trucks with poor hygiene conditions, Anna was smuggled from Nigeria to Libya. The conditions were deplorable, and she faced physical and sexual abuse from traffickers.
“... When I asked what in was doing here, one of the traffickers slapped me in the face. ... I was dumped in the desert for two days. On the third day, another pickup truck came with four men. Each of them took turns on me. They all raped me in the desert.”
Even upon reaching Libya, her health deteriorated. Despite her illness, she was forced into prostitution.
After enduring four years and eight months of despair with no hope of returning home, and determined to search for better life conditions, she made the decision to attempt an irregular journey to Italy. However, she was intercepted at sea, and ultimately sent back to Nigeria.
Photo credits: Jibril Olamide Baruma
Returning to her home country, Anna faced stigma and discrimination, exacerbating her already fragile health conditions. Mocked and isolated, she lost her appetite and suffered of poor physical and mental health.
“Neighbours laughed at me because I returned in the same state I went away [in poverty]. I suffered a lot of mockery, I was stigmatized, I used to hide indoors. I had no appetite to eat, whenever I saw food, my stomach would tighten up, due to worry. Sickness was finishing me.”
Despite her ordeal, she recovered and now shares her story to raise awareness of safe, orderly and regular migration, emphasizing the importance of protecting one's well-being, and of making informed choices.
“If it affects one person, it affects all of us,” she says, imploring young people to consider the risks associated with irregular migration. “Let’s try to migrate the right way,” she concludes.
Photo credits: Jibril Olamide Baruma
Anna's story is not unique, highlighting the hardships and risks that countless individuals face on their perilous journeys. Unfortunately, most never reach their intended destination or find their way back home. Even those who survive, they often endure sickness due to inadequate living and working conditions, lack of access to health care, and exposure to violence.
Anna told her story in a video report produced for the Fourth WHO Global School on Refugee and Migrant Health, which gathered over 1600 representatives of governments, United Nations agencies, researchers, nongovernmental organizations, civil society, and migrant and refugee communities in person in Dakar and online to discuss effective strategies in tackling the non-medical factors impacting the health of migrants and refugees worldwide.
“To protect and promote the health of refugees and migrants, we must address the social determinants of health. In practice, that means improving health care access without financial impediment; training culturally sensitive health care providers; tackling socio-economic disparities; fighting stigma and discrimination; and offering social integration and support programs,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, at the opening of the 2023 edition of the WHO Global School on Refugee and Migrant Health.
On this International Migrants Day, let us reflect on the struggles faced by individuals like Anna and take action to create a world where migration is safe, regular, and where quality health care is accessible to all, regardless of their migration status.
--
* Not her real name
The 2023 Global School on Refugee and Migrant Health was organized by the WHO’s Department of Health and Migration, in close collaboration with the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, WHO Regional Office for Africa and the WHO Country Office in Senegal and hosted by the Ministry of Health of Senegal. It was funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal and Universal Health Coverage Partnership.