The Roles of Health and Health Care Services in Social and Cultural Integration of Ethnic Minority African Migrants: The Case of the Luo Community of Wellington

This research provides anthropological analysis into the intersection between migrants’ health, healthcare services, and the concept of migrant integration, focusing on the Luo community of Wellington as an ethnic minority African immigrant community. Spurred by current trends in global migration, social and cultural integration of immigrants in host countries has become a critical global issue. The relationship between migration and health is an under researched topic both in New Zealand and elsewhere. The social aspects of health that effect processes of adaptation and integration of migrants are also not yet widely acknowledged. The members of the Luo community of Wellington face adaptation and integration challenges related to both their premigration and postmigration experiences that continue to affect their sociocultural integration in New Zealand. The premigration experiences highlight the dynamics of community members’ country of origin and the social and health impacts on individuals and on the family group. The postmigration experiences relates to the social and health impacts of resettlement and adaptation to life in New Zealand, associated with processes of acculturation and its related stress factors – language, as well as cultural and social barriers to integration.