Humanitarian crises and resulting out-migration have created contexts in which treatable diseases such as syphilis have expanded in prevalence. Untreated syphilis can have potentially irreversible and devastating consequences, especially for infants born with congenital syphilis. Our study aimed to understand the experiences of postpartum mothers whose newborns have been diagnosed with congenital syphilis and explore the social determinants of maternal and congenital syphilis. The setting of our study is the main public hospital in Cúcuta, Colombia, at the border with Venezuela, which provides emergency care to everyone regardless of documentation and thus receives a high share of Venezuelan migrants. We conducted twenty in-depth interviews with women who had their newborns hospitalized with a diagnosis of congenital syphilis. Sampling was conducted purposively at the hospital, between March and June 2023. Study participants were mostly Venezuelan migrants (90%) and Colombian returnees (10%), between 17 and 41 years of age. We used a grounded theory technique to conduct thematic analysis. Four major themes emerged: 1) experiencing a pregnancy in the context of a lack of resources, violence and ignorance; 2) guilt with and reinfection of syphilis; 3) challenges and limitations in accessing health care; and 4) limited support networks and machismo. Reported challenges were intertwined with the high costs of health care in the country of origin, the lack of knowledge of sexually transmitted infections, the limited public health education targeting this population group, and the absence of Colombian public policies that promote care for the non-regularized migrant population.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

The project received financial support from the German Development Cooperation Agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Bogotá 2.0 Initiative Project, administered by the Charitée University Hospital Berlin under the umbrella COL-VAC-SIF project, and by the German Institute for Global and Area Studies. The project was implemented by CARE Colombia.

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

The project was approved by the Hospital Universitario Erasmo Meoz (HUEM) ethics committee (#12-2023, March 7).

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

Data sharing requests should be sent to the corresponding author and will be reviewed by lead investigators. Deidentified individual participant data and a data dictionary defining each field in the set are available upon request after a proposal is approved and the data use agreement is signed. The survey and consent form will be provided with study data upon approval of the data request and signed data use agreement.