Mental health and holistic care of migrant workers in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic

Migrant worker populations in Singapore as well as other countries, despite advances in legislation and protections [1], continue to face longstanding issues of barriers to equal access to health care [2], information and resources targeted at the host country's local population, and even exclusion from national crisis response plans particularly pandemic preparedness plans [3]. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have a vital role in filling this gap by providing accessible services (eg, welfare, health care, crisis), liaison between employers and financing agents, and advocacy by representation of their needs and concerns in multi-agency collaborations. Specifically, mental health care for this population has been lacking because language and cultural barriers make it challenging for general health care services to incorporate this aspect. High levels of stigma towards mental illness in the home countries of migrant workers also add to the burden of unmet needs for focused mental health support. The scarcity of such services even among the NGO sector became amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore when mass quarantine and isolation of migrant worker accommodations severely reduced NGOs& access to them. HealthServe [4] was one such NGO which, in the 14 years since it was founded, has established strong networks of friendship and goodwill between ministerial agencies, employers, migrant worker dormitory operators and migrant workers. HealthServe operates low-cost primary care clinics including case work support to workers who had sustained workplace injuries, and commenced a mental health and counselling department, the first among the other migrant worker NGOs, in 2019. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s)