This master thesis provides an overview of the obstacles faced by persons who’ve experienced migration as well as health professionals working in the field of perinatal and postnatal, or maternal, care in Slovenia. In addressing the implications of these issues, the author places greater focus on the linguistic and cultural aspects of these barriers as well as the attempts of overcoming them as attempted by the individuals involved and the health system at institutional level. The research is based on qualitative data collected through interviews with health professionals and persons who’ve experienced migration, as well as a review of the relevant scientific literature. In addition to focusing on the linguistic and cultural barriers in maternal healthcare, this thesis also addresses the issue of institutional racism in relation to assimilationist logics and the ethnocentric views of some health professionals which may become evident during perinatal and postnatal examinations of persons who’ve experienced migration as well as their connection to the culture of biomedicine. This thesis also addresses the meaning of equality in maternal care, which, with a greater introduction of professional intercultural mediators, would come closer to the principle of the moral core of medicine, which seeks to understand the uniqueness of each individual in health care.
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