The main health implications are likely to be serious and immediate: disrupted treatment, worsening chronic illness, more mental distress, and higher risk of infectious disease spread in crowded or unsafe conditions.

Health risks

  • People forced out suddenly may lose access to medicines and clinic follow-up for HIV, TB, diabetes, hypertension, and maternal care.
  • Displacement into temporary shelters or unsafe spaces can increase exposure to poor sanitation, contaminated water, and communicable diseases.
  • Fear of violence, arrest, or harassment can delay care-seeking, which makes treatable conditions more dangerous.

Mental health effects

  • Abrupt removal, intimidation, and family separation can trigger anxiety, trauma, depression, and sleep problems.
  • Children, older adults, and people with disabilities are especially vulnerable when routines and support systems break down.

Wider public health impact

  • When people avoid clinics or are blocked from care, untreated infections can spread more easily in the broader community.
  • Public health groups in South Africa have warned that anti-migrant violence and forced displacement create “growing health risks” and humanitarian concerns, not just individual harm.

Important context

South African and international human-rights groups argue that denying healthcare based on nationality or migration status is harmful and unlawful, because health access protects both migrants and the wider public. In plain terms, forced ejection is not only a border or policing issue; it can become a public health emergency if people are pushed away from essential care.

Bottom line

The likely health outcome is more illness, more untreated conditions, more trauma, and potentially more disease transmission if removals are abrupt, violent, or not paired with safe access to healthcare.

TL;DR: Forced removal of undocumented migrants from South Africa can worsen chronic disease, increase infection risk, and create serious mental-health and humanitarian harms.