Objectives: to characterize healthcare for refugees and asylum seekers.
Design: a quali-quantitative study with semi-structured interviews was carried out with key informants of the regional clinics which provide health assistance to refugees and asylum seekers during the first phases of arrival.
Setting and participants: key informants of 14 health centres were interviewed across the 9 provinces of the region.
Main outcome measures: the study investigated the different healthcare interventions and the quality of the relationships among the main actors involved in providing healthcare to refugees and asylum seekers.
Results: three healthcare models were identified: one involved Local Health Units (LHUs), one based on the recruitment of NGOs, and the last one formed by the combination of LHAs and General Practitioners. Challenges in guaranteeing a good level of health assistance were reported at all levels, such as specific barriers in accessing health and social services, fragmentation and lack of coordination amongst services and the poor quality of care for vulnerable groups.
Conclusions: the healthcare for asylum seekers is characterized by various critical issues, mainly related to accessibility and coordination of health and social services. In order to guarantee health equity, it is necessary to strengthen the primary health care system and improve local governance.
Keywords: asylum seekers; barriers in access to care; governance; primary health care..