L’accès aux soins des migrants primo-arrivants

This article investigates the ways in which hospital professionals handle newly-arrived immigrant patients with HIV/AIDS when initial and ongoing access to care is complicated by the restrictions inherent in securitarian immigration policies and hos- pital cost-cutting measures. The analysis is based on the results of semi-directed inter- views with immigrants and healthcare and social workers. We describe how precarious conditions make both disease discovery and subsequent access to healthcare difficult. We then show that, in response to these circumstances, caregivers invent solutions which are sometimes at the limits of legality so they can ensure effective treatment and continuity of care. These "ruses" signal the existence of a silent battle waged against the inequalities and discriminations encountered in healthcare access for immigrants in France.