This study among Pakistani migrants is part of the IOM project “Strengthening Government’s Capacity of Selected South Asian Countries to Address the Health of Migrants through a Multi-sector Approach”. It is implemented in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. The three objectives of the project were: 1. To conduct an in-depth assessment among the three South Asian countries to assess health vulnerabilities of migrants, including their access to health and other social services, a mapping of governments’ responses to address these vulnerabilities, and to come up with recommendations for action; 2. To support a regional consultation involving the three primary target countries and countries that implemented a similar project before, such as Sri Lanka and Thailand, to discuss best practices and agree on success factors to develop a migration health agenda at national level for the target countries; 3. To support the Ministries of Health of Bangladesh and Nepal, and the Ministry of Human Resource Development of Pakistan to develop strategic action plans to address the health of migrants using a multi-sectoral approach. The project responds to the recommendations from the Regional Dialogue on the Health Challenges for Asian Migrant Workers (July 2010), the Dhaka Declaration (April 2011) and the World Health Assembly (WHA) Resolution 61.17 (May 2008) and assists key migration affected countries in South Asia to implement global and regional commitments and comprehensively address multi-faceted migration related health challenges.
The overall aim of this study was to contribute to the general understanding of the health vulnerabilities of departing and returnee migrants in Pakistan to inform the development of evidence policies, services and programmes that respond to migration related health challenges.
Specifically, the objectives of the study were to:
1. To assess the migration related health vulnerabilities of departing and returnee migrants in Pakistan.
2. To determine the availability and accessibility of health services, quality of health services, and barriers to accessing health services among migrants in their country of origin and destination.
3. To provide recommendations to the government and other stakeholders to support policy development on health aspects of migration and programme development.