Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Posted on Friday, 25-09-2009
Portugal - IOM is calling for more concerted efforts in the fight against health inequalities faced by migrants at a two-day European-wide consultation that concludes 25 September in Lisbon.
With migrants more vulnerable to poor health and with reduced access to health care in comparison to host populations in Europe despite investments made by governments in their health and social systems, national and European institutions alike will need to pay more specific attention to migrants' health requirements.
Not leaving migrants to fall between the cracks and ensuring they have equitable access to health and social services is important for overall public health safety. As a result, IOM advocates for a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach to avoid social exclusion and improve the health of all people including migrants.
The consultation - "Better Health for All" - which marks the second anniversary of a European conference on the same issue held under the Portuguese EU Presidency in 2007, has been organized by IOM and is hosted by the Office of the Portuguese High Commissioner for Health. It brings together more than 100 representatives from key organizations working on health issues in Europe, relevant ministries from EU and EU accession countries and neighbouring states with keynote speakers from the European Commission (EC), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the Council of Europe and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The EU-Level Consultation is the culmination of an IOM-managed and EC co-funded project "Assisting Migrants and Communities" during which the Portuguese High Commissariat for Health and IOM have fostered cooperation and dialogue among multi-disciplinary actors. Beyond the Portuguese government, IOM has partnered in this initiative with leading European universities as well as the Spanish, Italian and Maltese governments to develop background papers on priority issues in migrant health as the basis for the consultation discussions.
Opened by IOM's Deputy Director-General, Laura Thompson, the consultation is expected to develop recommendations for translation into national and EU-level migration health policy and practice, as well as to identify areas where more data and research would be needed.
For further information on the EU-Level Consultation on Migration Health - "Better Health for All", please visit www.migrant-health-europe.org or contact:
Roumyana Benedict
E-mail: rpetrovabenedict@iom.int
or
Maria-Jose Peiro
IOM Brussels
E-mail: mpeiro@iom.int
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