Improving migrants’ and refugees’ access to healthcare
Action Leader: Council of Europe Development Bank
What is the specific problem?
As highlighted in the new EU Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion, migrant communities face diverse and persistent barriers to accessing healthcare services, which can undermine their integration and inclusion in all spheres of life, in addition to causing adverse health consequences. The lack of tailored outreach strategies— i.e. sensitive to the needs, beliefs, and vulnerabilities of migrant populations—has been frequently identified as one key factor behind this ‘migrant health disadvantage’.
Most recently, the need to control the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic has urged local and national governments across Europe to launch new measures and tools to spread healthcare-related information among migrant populations, sometimes coupled with interventions to expand formal rights to access healthcare services. Many have invested in improving information provision and awareness-raising among migrant communities—e. g. by providing multilingual information, resorting to social media, or mobilising migrant associations as bridge-builders.
Yet experiences at city and country level suggest that simply making information available is often ineffective in raising awareness, ensuring compliance with preventive healthcare policies, and promoting uptake of services. This lack of effectiveness may be due to a variety of ‘hidden barriers’—for example, specific cultural beliefs; lack of trust in public institutions; low literacy/education; weak social networks and spatial exclusion; or administrative and social ‘invisibility’. And it may be especially pronounced for some hard-to-reach groups within migrant populations: e. g. shadow economy workers, refugee women, certain belief communities, and other migrant groups with very limited links to the host society. Without adequate interventions, this situation risks exposing migrant populations to further healthcare risks, while also leaving local communities more vulnerable to public-health crises. Moreover, it may fuel social tensions—for example if some minority groups are seen by other parts of the community as ignoring/undermining disease-control protocols.
What was the goal of this action?
This action focused on hard-to-reach migrant populations and aimed to a) improve awareness of barriers in accessing health care, with a focus on the organisation and delivery of health care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic; and b) identify solutions and best practices and develop recommendations on improving access to health care and health literacy addressed to local and national authorities and other relevant stakeholders, from the perspective of a multi-level governance model.
roundtable
The action organized the event ‘Migrant access to healthcare: From emergency to sustainable solutions’ on 18 October 2022.
The hybrid event, co-organized by the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), the Committee of the Regions, and the European Commission (DG HOME), brought together cities and regions from across the EU, as well as medical professionals and selected experts, to share experiences and good practices on how to improve the access to healthcare for migrants and refugees. The event was also organized jointly with the action on mental healthcare, building synergies between both actions.
Main takeaways
The action developed a report with recommendations on how to improve access to healthcare for migrants and refugees.
Based on the expert roundtable on 18 October, the action developed a final report with recommendations on how cities and regions can improve access to healthcare for migrants.
Main takeaways include:
The COVID-19 pandemic sparked marginal improvements to migrant access to healthcare, but without structural policy change or permanent changes in entitlements to services, these improvements won't last
Multi-level governance models, particularly partnerships between public service and migrant-led CSOs resulted in innovative, efficient, and effective (e.g. patient-centered) practices across the EU
Policymakers should invest in intercultural health communicators and promote the involvement of migrant community leaders to improving health outcomes
Which partners?
Action leader: Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB)
Members : City of Milan, City of Barcelona, Italy, Portugal, European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), City of Torino