Publications Search

Lessons learned for surveillance system strengthening through capacity building and partnership engagement in post-Ebola Guinea, 2015–2019

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…

Emergency Health – 2021 Global Highlights

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a key player in responding to humanitarian and public health emergencies as well as supporting health system recovery and resilience. Health support in emergencies is an essential part of IOM’s humanitarian mandate and recognized by the Organization’s Migration Crisis Operational Framework as one of the 15 sectors of assistance to address before, during and after crises.

This factsheet showcases some of this programming from 2021…

Epidemiological progression of COVID-19 positive cases among transnational truck drivers in the East African Region

COVID-19 triggered a range of border controls to curb the spread of the disease. Containment measures and restrictions were put in place to mitigate cross-border transmission while maintaining the flow of essential goods and services in the East and Horn of Africa Region. The first cases of COVID-19 detection among truck drivers, triggered and strengthened cross-border collaboration for detecting and responding to COVID-19 pandemic. Infection was significantly common among truck drivers in…

Refugees, migrants, internally displaced people and COVID-19: protocol for an updated systematic review

The review protocol is in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff, & Altman, 2009), and is essentially an update of the protocol (Hintermeier et al., 2020) of a previously published review on the topic (Hintermeier et al., 2021).

The search strategy is twofold. Firstly, we will use the database provided by the WHO of global literature on coronavirus disease (https://search.bvsalud.org/global-literature-on-…

Population Mobility Mapping

In line with the Global Health Security Agenda and the 2005 International Health Regulations, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is working with stakeholders and partners globally to rapidly detect and respond to disease outbreaks, with an approach anchored in an in-depth understanding of human mobility dynamics.

The complete pathway of population movement at points of origin, transit, destination, and return is known as the mobility continuum. It includes mobility…

Migration Health 2020 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 2020, in partnership with Member States, United Nations agencies and other partners in the international community, to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, meet the operational challenges and advance understanding of migration health, encourage socioeconomic development through migration, and work towards ensuring respect of the human…

Health, Border and Mobility Management Framework: A Framework to Empower Governments and Communities to Prevent, Detect and Respond to Public Health Threats along the Mobility Continuum

The Health, Border and Mobility Management (HBMM) Framework articulates IOM’s strategic role and objectives in the prevention, detection, and response to communicable diseases in the context of widespread and multi-directional human mobility. It provides an action framework for IOM to undertake activities related to health, border, and mobility management and serves as a reference for the IOM Member States and partners to understand the Organization’s role and contributions in this area of…

Population movements, borders, and Chagas disease

Abstract

Currently, Chagas disease is a complex global health problem with local and global implications. In the present article, we approach this complexity from the perspective of human mobility and its effects on people's health in places of origin and in transit and destination. We raise key concepts such as human mobility-understood as a possible socio-structural and economic determination of health-, the associated social and institutional barriers, and the processes of social…

An immunization program for US-bound refugees: Development, challenges, and opportunities 2012–present

Background
US-bound refugees undergo required health assessments overseas to identify and treat communicable diseases of public health significance—such as pulmonary tuberculosis—before migration. Immunizations are not required, leaving refugees at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases. In response, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of State developed and co-funded a global immunization program for US-bound refugees, implemented in 2012 in…

Migration Health Assessments and Travel Health Assistance: 2019 Overview of Pre-migration Health Activities

IOM's Global Migration Health Assessment Programme (HAP), under the Migration Health Division, conducts pre-migration health activities that are among the most 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 receiving country protocols and the epidemiological profile of the country of origin. This report…