The health issues of refugees and migrants are one of the newly emerged global health priorities issue in the 21st century. Globally, there is a lack of data and evidence on the subject, making it difficult for the governments worldwide to develop policy frameworks that address health needs of refugees and migrants.
The COVID-19 pandemic put an additional spotlight on the importance of globally coordinated public health responses based on objective data and scientific evidence. WHO Health and Migration Programme (PHM) is taking the leadership to support evidence-informed policymaking and interventions in countries. In June 2021, WHO launched the Global Evidence Review on Health and Migration (GEHM) series and published its first report – “Refugees and migrants in times of COVID-19: mapping trends of public health and migration policies and practices”.
The launch of the series marked a milestone in starting a systematic evidence review in key topical issues on health and migration led by the Interdivisional Working Group (IWG). IWG is a collaboration between PHM and three departments of the Science Division – Departments of Quality Assurance, Norms and Standards (QNS), Research for Health (RFH), and Digital Health Initiative (DHI). The objective is to generate evidence on the health of refugees and migrants and to support targeted and impactful policy-making that leaves no one behind. This collaboration is ensuring highest quality in normative and standard setting products as well as on research prioritization and research agenda setting for the benefit of the most vulnerable.
As a ‘science and quality’ hub of WHO, Science Division is committed to supporting PHM to utilize the scientific and innovative approach to translate knowledge in the field of migration and health into meaningful impact on these populations. As one of the most important and visible results of WHO transformation, the Science Division of WHO Headquarters aims to harness the power of science and innovation, to provide global leadership in using the best scientific evidence to improve health and to promote health equity for all.
The collaboration between PHM and the Science Division through IWG has been in applying the best-in-class methodology to review and synthesize the latest data and evidence as necessary for producing normative products that are impactful in improving the health of refugees and migrants around the world.
About the first GEHM report
“Refugees and migrants in times of COVID-19: mapping trends of public health and migration policies and practices” provides an overview of the heterogeneous national migration and public health policies adopted by governments worldwide regarding refugees and migrants in response to COVID-19. The report synthesizes the available knowledge from the academic and grey literature published in English between November 2019 and November 2020 and focuses on three types of national adaptation policies: border policies; migration policies for foreigners already within the territory of States; public health policies on access to health care for refugees and migrants.
The report highlights how many refugee- and migrant-sensitive policies have coexisted with discriminatory practices that compromise the rights of refugees and migrants and illustrates a significant range of practices in line with international conventions protecting the rights of refugee and migrants.
The report calls for an integrated approach to migration and public health policies, suggesting protection-sensitive access to territories, a flexible approach to migration status and non-discriminatory access to health care as policy considerations to uphold international conventions protecting the right to health without discrimination for refugees and migrants.