Institutional Elderly Care Services and Moroccan and Turkish Migrants in Belgium: A Literature Review
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Institutional Elderly Care Services and Moroccan and Turkish Migrants in Belgium: A Literature Review Chaı¨ma Ahaddour1 • Stef van den Branden1 • Bert Broeckaert1
Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015
Abstract In several European countries, including Belgium, the rapid ageing of the migrant population has emerged only recently on the political agenda. The aim of this literature review is threefold. Firstly, it provides a review of the available studies on the accessibility and use of institutional care services by Moroccan and Turkish migrants in the Flemish part of Belgium including Flanders and Brussels. Secondly, it identifies their specific needs regarding elderly care services. Finally, it provides an overview of the way in which Belgian policy has dealt with the issue of migration and elderly care. Literature published between 1965 and 2014 and relevant to the Belgian context has been included. This search yielded 21 references, of which 8 empirical studies, 5 policy literature, 3 theoretical studies, 3 news articles and 2 popularized reports. Mainstream elderly care remains relatively inaccessible for these migrants due to the language and a series of cultural and religious barriers, a low level of education, financial constraints, a lack of knowledge of health care systems, and the so-called return and care dilemmas. Their religious and cultural needs are currently not met by elderly care services. The inclusive and neutral Belgian policy seems to pay insufficient attention to these issues. Keywords Elderly care Care facilities Migrants Moroccan and Turkish Muslims Belgium
& Chaı¨ma Ahaddour [email protected] 1
Faculty Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, SintMichielsstraat 4, box 3101, 3000 Louvain, Belgium
Introduction In Belgium, Muslim migration began in the early sixties of the twentieth century. At that time, guest workers from Muslim countries, more specifically from Turkey and Morocco, were recruited in large numbers. Whereas there was hardly any Muslim presence in Belgium before the sixties, in a few decades Islam has become the second largest religion in the country [1]. Today, Belgian Flemish society is confronted with the ageing of this Muslim population [2–5]. Whereas the situation of elderly migrants in the Netherlands is well documented, little information is available on this part of the Belgian population. Until recently, migration and ageing were considered as separate and different phenomena, each covered by a different policy. Only recently have Belgian policy makers begun to realise that migrants too are part of a collective ageing that is taking place in this country [6]. The aim of this literature review is threefold. Firstly, this article seeks to provide a review of the available studies on accessibility and use of institutional care services among Moroccan and Turkish migrants in Flanders and Brussels. Given the central role played by the regional authorities in elderly care, we focus on the Flemish, Dutch-speaking part of
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