Millions of refugees and migrants face poorer health outcomes than their host communities, which has dire consequences for the probability that the world will not achieve the health-related Sustainable Development Goals for these populations, according to the first ever report on the health of refugees and migrants.
Though the refugees and migrants are not inherently less healthy than host populations, the report by WHO states that it is the impact of the various suboptimal health determinants, such as education, income, housing, access to services, compounded by linguistic, cultural, legal and other barriers and the interaction of these during the life course, that are behind poor health outcomes.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in the Foreword said “today there are some one billion migrants globally, about one in eight people. The experience of migration is a key determinant of health and wellbeing, and refugees and migrants remain among the most vulnerable and neglected members of many societies.”
Stating that the report is the first to offer a global review of refugee and migrant health, he said that the report called for urgent and collective action to ensure access to health care services that are sensitive to their needs. It also illustrates the pressing need to address the root causes of ill health and to radically reorient health systems to respond to a world increasingly in motion, he mentioned.
DIRTY, DANGEROUS JOBS
Their poorer health outcomes are due to the impact of various sub-optimal health determinants such as education, income, and housing, which are compounded by linguistic, cultural, legal and other barriers. It also said that a recent meta-analysis of more than 17 million participants from 16 countries across five WHO regions found that migrant workers were less likely to use health services and more likely to have an occupational injury. More evidence showed that a significant number of the 169 million migrant workers globally are engaged in dirty, dangerous, and demanding jobs and are at greater risk of occupational accidents, injuries, and work-related health problems than their non-migrant counterparts, conditions exacerbated by their often limited or restricted access to and use of health services.
The report underscores that the experience of migration and displacement is a key factor in health and wellbeing, especially when combined with other factors.
QUALITY DATA
In the report, the WHO said that though data and evidence are plentiful, they are fragmented and not comparable across countries and over time. This showed critical gaps in data and health information systems regarding the health of refugees and migrants.
Although these mobile populations are sometimes identifiable in global datasets used for SDG monitoring, health data are often missing from migration statistics and migratory status variables are often missing from health statistics. This makes it difficult to determine and track progress for refugees and migrants towards the health-related SDGs,” the report stated. In this respect, WHO’s Deputy Director-General Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab called for urgent investments to improve the quality, relevance and completeness of health data on refugees and migrants. “We need sound data collection and monitoring systems that truly represent the diversity of the world population and the experience that refugees and migrants face the world over and that can guide more effective policies and interventions,” Zsuzsanna Jakab said.
DISPARITIES PERSIST
Although policies and frameworks do exist that address and respond to the health needs of refugees and migrants, WHO said disparities persist due to a lack of their meaningful and effective implementation.
WHO’s Health and Migration Programme Director Dr Santino Severoni opined; “Health does not begin or end at a country’s border. Migratory status should therefore not be a discriminatory factor but a policy driver on which to build and strengthen healthcare and social and financial protection. We must reorient existing health systems into integrated and inclusive health services for refugees and migrants, in line with the principles of primary health care and universal health coverage.”
Despite all these, the WHO report on the health of refugees and migrants say that they can introduce innovative ideas that drive economic and social transformation The Report highlights the extraordinary contributions of refugee and migrant health care workers to the COVID-19 frontline response. One of the most notable was the contributions of migrants in several countries of the Organisation for Economic co operation and Development (OECD), which were particularly significant when in some countries as many as half of doctors or nurses are foreign born. Implementing inclusive health systems that conform to the principle of right to health for all and universal health coverage would permit individuals in need of health services to be identified and supported early, before many problems become acute. Health systems are only as strong as their weakest link. The inclusion of refugees and migrants is a worthwhile investment for the development and wellbeing of societies around the world.
QUOTES
Ban Ki-moon, Chairman of Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a Better Future, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations: “Recognizing that migration and displacement have an impact on the health of the billion people on the move, this Report marks a welcome advance in thinking of migration and displacement through one clarifying glass. The lens is universal health coverage and the idea that everyone has a right to ‘complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’, as stated in the WHO Constitution in 1946.”
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Novelist and Professor, Nobel Prize in Literature (2021) : “The physical, economic and psychological challenges posed by migration and displacement, and integration in host communities, are often misheard, overlooked or misperceived. I welcome how this Report assembles available global evidence on the health of people on the move – international migrants and those forcibly displaced – in a single authoritative document.”
