WIMN International Coordinator Roula Seghaier is cited in this article about the critical state of health care for migrants and refugees in Tunisia.
The Outpost
February 26, 2026
“Tunisia’s economic crisis doesn’t announce itself with sirens. It seeps into ordinary routines. A clinic visit postponed. A prescription left unfilled. Getting sick no longer triggers a clinic visit. It triggers calculation. Among migrants and refugees from Sub-Saharan Africa, care slips away as finances shrink and protection feels uncertain.
“Economically, Tunisia is frozen. Since 2023, growth has hovered at 0%, unemployment near 15%, and inflation around 8%. Food prices rise. Public care thins. For migrants, it means something sharper. Many aren’t legally recognised as refugees at all. Although Tunisia hosts over 9,000 seeking refuge and around 59,000 foreign residents, it offers no formal asylum system. Sub-Saharan Africans are treated as irregular migrants by default, even when fleeing violence or instability.
“The consequences surface quickly in hospitals. Underfunded public facilities become difficult, sometimes hostile, places to seek care.
“Access often depends on informal gatekeeping, who looks legitimate, who can pay, who is worth the time. According to Roula Seghaier, who serves as the International Coordinator for the Women in Migration Network, migrants in cities like Tunis and Sfax have increasingly been pushed toward NGOs and private clinics, not by choice, but by exclusion. It is a dependence born of necessity, not preference, and one that is itself narrowing. As the political climate tightens around migration, even these fallback routes face disruption. Funding dries up. Organisations are scrutinised.
“Labour offers no safety net. Only 12% of migrant youth earn regular wages. 32% rely on casual work. Women dominate domestic labour accounting for 69% of labour,, sex work 12%, and begging 11%. Young men cluster in construction, agriculture, or fishing, sectors tied to forced labour risks. Without stable income, private healthcare becomes impossible, and public care feels dangerous…”