Title: Access to reproductive health : Experiences of female migrant workers from Myanmar in Samut Sakhon, Thailand
Author: Miss Phutita Sriprapha
Year: 2024
Keywords: Access to Reproductive Health, Myanmar Female Migrant Workers,, Samut Sakhon
Theme: Health
Advisor(s): Naruemon Thabchumpon
The full thesis available here.
Abstract: Thailand remains a major destination for migrant workers from neighboring countries and hosts a large population of Myanmar migrants, including many women. Despite their contributions to local economic development, female migrant workers face persistent barriers to accessing reproductive healthcare. This study analyzes the structural, personal, and social dimensions of reproductive health access among Myanmar migrant women in Samut Sakhon province. Using the 4A framework, Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability, and Adaptability together with intersectionality, the study draws on 12 semi-structured interviews to explore how structural, personal, and social factors affect their reproductive healthcare access. Multiple dimensions of identity were also explored to see how they interact to shape a different degree of access. Addtionally, attention is paid to how women navigate systemic constraints in a context of their intersectional identities and positions.The findings reveal that exclusion from reproductive healthcare arises not from a single factor such as gender or migration status but from the convergence of legal insecurity, economic precarity, education level, language barriers, and social stigma. These intersecting disadvantages reinforce one another, producing structural exclusion that formal eligibility alone cannot resolve. The thesis also confirms that intersectionality is not only a valuable analytical tool but an essential framework for understanding and addressing health inequities faced by marginalized migrant populations in Thailand’s evolving labor and healthcare landscape