Indicator history

As refered in the Portuguese State of the Art Report issued in 2009 by the Information Network on Good Practice in Health Care for Migrants and Minorities in Europe (MIGHEALTHNET), according to the Fourth National Health Interview Survey - an instrument of assessment and observation of health, collecting population based data and generating estimations on the state of health and illness and respective determinants -, immigrants seem to be more susceptible to certain health problems and risk behaviour, namely high risk and/or early pregnancies.

According to developed research, there is a higher frequency of low weight premature births from African origin mothers when compared to Portuguese mothers. The descendents
 of immigrants tend do have higher foetal and neo-natal mortality and mothers suffer from more pathologies during pregnancy, namely infectious diseases. As stated in the Portuguese State of the Art Report of the Information Network on Good Practice in Health Care for Migrants and Minorities in Europe (MIGHEALTHNET), this last fact can be justified by their later attendance of pre-natal medical care.
 

Source

Fonseca, M . L., Silva, S., Esteves. A. e McGarrigle Jennifer (1999), Portuguese State of the Art Report, MIGHEALTHNET: Information Network on Good Practice in Health Care for Migrants and Minorities in Europe, http://mighealth.net/pt/images/0/00/Mighealthnet_SOAR_eng.pdf, Date of access: 17.02.2012.