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Mental Health of Refugees and Migrants: Risk and protective factors and access to care

This is the fifth report of the Global Evidence Review on Health and Migration (GEHM) series. The publication focuses on the mental health needs of refugees and migrants by providing an overview of the available evidence on patterns of risk and protective factors and of facilitators and barriers to care at all levels (individual, family, community and national government). It identifies five high-level themes, each of which has implications for research and policy and is relevant across…

COVID-19 Vaccination in Humanitarian Settings: Action plan from a joint convening and contributions to broader pandemic preparedness

This report and action plan summarize the proceedings and outcome of a 2-day Joint convening on COVID-19 vaccination in humanitarian settings and the contribution to broader pandemic preparedness held on 14–15 February 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The convening was organized by the COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership (CoVDP) and key partners from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Health Cluster (GHC), International Committee of…

Pre-Migration Health Activities - 2022 Overview

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Migration Health Assessment Programme (HAP), as part of the Migration Health Division, delivers pre-migration health activities as one of the most well-established and longest-standing services provided by the Organization. These activities are undertaken in the context of regular international migration at the request of receiving country governments and vary in scope according to the receiving country protocols and the epidemiological…

COVID-19 among migrants, refugees, and internally displaced persons: systematic review, meta-analysis and qualitative synthesis of the global empirical literature

Background: Pandemic response and preparedness plans aim at mitigating the spread of infectious diseases and protecting public health, but migrants are often side-lined. Evidence amounted early that migrants are disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. However, synthesised evidence is lacking that quantifies the inequalities in infection risk and disease outcomes, or contextualises the consequences of pandemic measures and their underlying…

Diagnostic accuracy of three computer-aided detection systems for detecting pulmonary tuberculosis on chest radiography when used for screening: Analysis of an international, multicenter migrants screening study

The aim of this study was to independently evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of three artificial intelligence (AI)-based computer aided detection (CAD) systems for detecting pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) on global migrants screening chest x-ray (CXR) cases when compared against both microbiological and radiological reference standards (MRS and RadRS, respectively). Retrospective clinical data and CXR images were collected from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) pre-migration…

Migrant workers and zoonotic health inequalities in the livestock production sector

This working paper highlights the urgent need to address the risk of zoonoses—diseases transmissible between animals and humans—to migrant workers in the livestock product value chain, arguing for the inclusion of migrants into evidence-building and actions for multilevel and interdisciplinary zoonotic disease prevention and control.

Implementing the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration through Migration Health Actions

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) is the first inter-governmentally negotiated agreement on migration in all its aspects. The GCM features health as a cross-cutting priority in several objectives, and provides an opportunity to promote the health of migrants in many related sectors. The implementation and review of the GCM recognize the importance of global coordination of comprehensive, rights-based migration policy to effectively govern migration.

Emergency Health: 2022 Global Highlights

IOM plays a key role in responding to humanitarian and public health emergencies. Health support in emergencies is an essential part of IOM’s humanitarian mandate and is recognized by the Organization’s Migration Crisis Operational Framework1 as one of the 15 sectors of assistance to address before, during, and after crises. This factsheet showcases some of the emergency health programming from 2022 in countries in which IOM assisted people affected by crises with direct provision of…

Migration Health 2022 Impact Overview

This report is an annual overview of activities led and implemented by the Migration Health Division of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 2022, in close collaboration with Member States, other United Nations agencies, and partners, to respond to major health needs in the context of human mobility, meet operational challenges and advance understanding of migration health, encourage socioeconomic development through migration, and work towards ensuring respect of the human…

Migration Health Research Bulletin, Issue No. 26

The issue of the Bulletin features articles, reports, and technical briefs focusing on migrants’ access to healthcare information and services, health impacts of air pollution, as well as syndromic screening, and disease surveillance.

The audio podcast episode outlines the findings of a desk review to determine the rights of migrants to access healthcare services in the 16 Southern African Development Community Member States as well as an overview of the health challenges faced by…