Publications Search
This publications portal is a repository of all IOM migration health publications from 2006 to present where IOM was a primary contributor.
Publications include peer-reviewed scientific papers, technical reports, training guides/manuals, policy briefs/discussion papers, factsheets, newsletters, research reviews, conference and poster presentations. These are categorized by topic, author, country/region covered as well as by year, language, and type of publication. The map reflects the countries covered by the publications.
To browse or search: simply use the filter options on the left-hand side. Alternatively, you can enter keyword/s in the search box. Selecting a specific publication will lead to a ‘download’ link or link to the website where the document is housed. Here is the step-by-step guide for your reference.
Examining post-conflict stressors in northern Sri Lanka: A qualitative study
Author/s: Fiona C. Thomas, Malasha D’souza, Olivia Magwood, Dusharani Thilakanathan, Viththiya Sukumar, Shannon Doherty, Giselle Dass, Tae Hart, Sambasivamoorthy Sivayokan, Kolitha Wickramage, Sivalingam Kirupakaran, Kelly McShane
Forcibly displaced individuals typically encounter daily stressors, which can negatively impact mental health above and beyond direct exposure to war-related violence, trauma, and loss. Understanding the perspectives of war-affected communities regarding daily stressors can enhance the integration of mental health into local primary care. The aim of the current study was to explore how daily stressors are conceptualized in a post-conflict setting. Data collection was completed with 53 adult…
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Lessons learned for surveillance system strengthening through capacity building and partnership engagement in post-Ebola Guinea, 2015–2019
Author/s: Jennifer J. Hemingway-Foday, Boubacar Ibrahima Diallo, Salomon Compaore, Souleymane Bah, Sakoba Keita, Ibrahima Telly Diallo, Lise D. Martel, Claire J. Standley, Mariama B. Bah, Marlyatou Bah, Djiguiba Camara, Almamy K. Kaba, Lamine Keita, Moussa Kone, Eileen Reynolds, Ousmane Souare, Kristen B. Stolka, Samuel Tchwenko, Abdoulaye Wone, Mary Claire Worrell, Pia D. M. MacDonald
The 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in Guinea revealed systematic weaknesses in the existing disease surveillance system, which contributed to delayed detection, underreporting of cases, widespread transmission in Guinea and cross-border transmission to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia, leading to the largest Ebola epidemic ever recorded. Efforts to understand the epidemic's scale and distribution were hindered by problems with data completeness, accuracy, and reliability. In 2017, recognizing…
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Displacement-related stressors in a Sri Lankan war-affected community: Identifying the impact of war exposure and ongoing stressors on trauma symptom severity
Author/s: Fiona C. Thomas, Simon Coulombe, Todd A. Girard, Tae L. Hart, Shannon Doherty, Giselle Dass, Kolitha Wickramage, Chesmal Siriwardhana, Rajendra Surenthirakumaran, Kelly McShane
Abstract
In recent years, there has been a shift in the literature towards identifying how ongoing stress adversely affects mental health beyond the effect of direct exposure to war-related violence. The goal of the current study was to investigate the relationship between displacement-related stressors and trauma symptom severity. Participants (N = 1015) were recruited from primary healthcare clinics (PHCs) in Northern Sri Lanka and completed a demographic and displacement…
WASH responses to COVID-19 in Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan
Author/s: Yasmine Zaki Abdelaziz, Gemma Arthurson, Haley West, Antonio Torres
The humanitarian community has had to learn about COVID-19 while responding to this new disease. From the start it was known that basic hygiene practices, such as proper handwashing, could help prevent its transmission. However, many displacement settings do not have the required facilities for implementing household and community-level Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures. They may also have weak governance systems for managing and maintaining water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH…
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Public health emergency management capacity building in Guinea: 2014-2019
Author/s: Lise D. Martel, Michael Phipps, Amadou Traore, Claire J. Standley, Mohamed L. Soumah, Appollinaire Lamah, Abdoulaye Wone, Michael Asima, Alpha M. Barry, Mahawa Berete, Aurelia Attal-Juncqua, Rebecca Katz, Alexandre Robert, Idrissa Sompare, Erin M. Sorrell, Yakaria Toure, Antoine Morel-Vulliez, Sakoba Keita
Abstract
Before the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak of 2014-2016, Guinea did not have an emergency management system in place. During the outbreak, Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) 2014-2019 funds made it possible to rapidly improve the country's capacity to manage epidemics through the development of public health emergency operation centres (PHEOCs) at the national and district levels. Since the end of the response, the infrastructure, staff, and systems of these…
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COVID-19 testing acceptability and uptake amongst the Rohingya and host community in Camp 21, Teknaf, Bangladesh
Author/s: Catherine R. McGowan, Nora Hellman, Sayem Chowdhury, Abdul Mannan, Katherine Newell, Rachael Cummings
Abstract
Facility-based sentinel testing for COVID-19 was implemented in May 2020 to monitor the prevalence of COVID-19 amongst the Rohingya and host community in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. In response both to low uptake of testing across all camps, and rumours of an outbreak of an influenza-like illness in May/June 2020, the International Organization for Migration (in partnership with ACAPS) undertook a qualitative study to collect accounts from the Rohingya relating to…
Neglect of low-income migrants in COVID-19 response
Author/s: Anuj Kapilashrami, Anns Issac, Jeevan Sharma, Kolitha Wickramage, Ekatha Ann John, Divya Ravindranath, Roomi Aziz, Patrick Duigan
South Asia, home to around a quarter of the world’s population and 40% of the world’s poor, is being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The global response to the pandemic has focused mainly on containment of the contagion and “flattening the curve” through testing and strict social distancing, but these universal approaches fail to take account of resource limitations in countries in South Asia and ignore the realities of vulnerable populations, such as low-income migrants, internally…
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Migrant and refugee populations: a public health and policy perspective on a continuing global crisis
Author/s: Mohamed Abbas, Tammam Aloudat, Javier Bartolomei, Manuel Carballo, Sophie Durieux-Paillard, Laure Gabus, Alexandra Jablonka, Yves Jackson, Kanokporn Kaojaroen, Daniel Koch, Esperanza Martinez, Marc Mendelson, Roumyana Petrova-Benedict, Sotirios Tsiodras, Derek Christie, Mirko Saam, Sally Hargreaves, Didier Pittet
The 2015–2017 global migratory crisis saw unprecedented numbers of people on the move and tremendous diversity in terms of age, gender and medical requirements. This article focuses on key emerging public health issues around migrant populations and their interactions with host populations. Basic needs and rights of migrants and refugees are not always respected in regard to article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 23 of the Refugee Convention.…
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Infectious disease testing of UK-bound refugees: a population-based, cross-sectional study
Author/s: Alison Crawshaw, Manish Pareek, John Were, Steffen Schillinger, Olga Gorbacheva, Kolitha Wickramage, Sema Mandal, Valerie Delpech, Noel Gill, Hilary Kirkbride, Dominik Zenner
Background
The UK, like a number of other countries, has a refugee resettlement programme. External factors, such as higher prevalence of infectious diseases in the country of origin and circumstances of travel, are likely to increase the infectious disease risk of refugees, but published data is scarce. The International Organization for Migration carries out and collates data on standardised pre-entry health assessments (HA), including…
Impact of enhanced health interventions for United States–bound refugees: Evaluating best practices in migration health
Author/s: Tarissa Mitchell, Deborah Lee, Michelle Weinberg, Christina Phares, Nicola James, Kittisak Amornpaisarnloet, Lalita Aumpipat, Gretchen Cooley, Anita Davies, Valerie Daw Tin Shwe, Vasil Gajdadziev, Olga Gorbacheva, Chutharat Khwan-Niam, Alexander Klosovsky, Waritorn Madilokkowit, Diana Martin, Naing Zaw Htun Myint, Thi Ngoc Yen Nguyen, Thomas Nutman, Elise O’Connell, Luis Ortega, Sugunya Prayadsab, Chetdanai Srimanee, Wasant Supakunatom, Vattanachai Vesessmith, William Stauffer
With an unprecedented number of displaced persons worldwide, strategies for improving the health of migrating populations are critical. United States–bound refugees undergo a required overseas medical examination to identify inadmissible conditions (e.g., tuberculosis) 2–6 months before resettlement, but it is limited in scope and may miss important, preventable infectious, chronic, or nutritional causes of morbidity. We sought to evaluate the feasibility and health impact…
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