Migrant access to healthcare: From emergency responses to sustainable solutions

This conference & workshop were organised by the European Committee of the Regions, the European Commission (DG HOME) and the Council of Europe Development Bank under the Urban Agenda Partnership for Migrants and Refugees. The event took place on 18-19 October 2022 in the European Committee of the Regions (Brussels).

The conference, which brought together cities and regions from across the EU, explored ways of improving healthcare rights, creating culturally sensitive, patient-centred health care systems, and improving migrant health literacy. The agenda, presentations and recordings can be found here: Migrant access to healthcare: From emergency responses to sustainable solutions (europa.eu)

Main takeaways:

• In the EU, the Covid pandemic has resulted in marginal improvements in migrant access to healthcare; the expansion of entitlements and innovative practices did not result in significant policy-changes or permanent changes in service entitlements and delivery. However, the EU-wide solidarity with the displaced people from Ukraine and the mechanisms enabled by the Temporary Protection Directive have the potential to trigger better, more sustainable outcomes.  

• Multi-level governance models, in particular the partnerships between public services and migrant communities and civil society organisations, have resulted in innovative, efficient, and effective (e.g. patient-centred) practices across the EU. Such models / partnerships were key to the resilience of the healthcare systems and can be transposed to the planning and delivery of healthcare services for any other vulnerable group.

• Alongside local/national political will to expand/enact health care entitlements, long-term, predictable allocation of resources (financial, human), particularly by local authorities, are key to ensuring effective access to health care by migrants.