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‘It is a disease which comes and kills directly’: What refugees know about COVID-19 and key influences of compliance with preventive measures

Abstract

Background
Refugees are at increased risk for COVID-19 infection in part due to their living conditions, which make it harder to adopt and adhere to widely accepted preventive measures. Little empirical evidence exists about what refugees know about COVID-19 and what they do to prevent infection. This study explored what refugee women and their health care workers understand about COVID-19 prevention, the extent of their compliance to public health…

Cross-border Tuberculosis Control along the Viet Nam and Cambodia Border

In 2020, Viet Nam was one of the 30 highest-burden countries globally with tuberculosis (TB) and multi-drug resistant TB, whereas Cambodia was one of the 30 highest-burden countries with TB. While both nations have made significant progress in reducing TB rates in recent years, they lack the financial resources needed to eliminate TB as a public health problem. Within this context of strained health resources, migrant populations – internal migrants within each of the two countries and cross…

Assessing the Ground Crossing Points of Nepal and Their Compliance with the International Health Regulations (2005) to Prepare and Inform the Public Health Response to COVID-19

This study aimed to assess the status of IHR (2005) core capacity requirements at the designated ground crossings in Nepal in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Quantitative assessment was carried out at PoEs after preliminary assessment of 11 GCPs conducted by IOM jointly with the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD), Ministry of Health and Population, Government of Nepal. A total of 17 field researchers were mobilized for data collection at these GCPs from 11-14 December…

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…

The Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus in Health

Worldwide, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) works to operationalize the humanitarian-development-peace nexus (HDPN) by strengthening collaboration and coherence between humanitarian, development and peace actors, Member States, beneficiaries and other partners. Peace is a fundamental prerequisite for good health, and poor access to health and other basic social services is both a driver and consequence of conflict and displacement. As such, health-related programming has…

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…

Diaspora Engagement in Health in The Eastern Mediterranean Region: A desk review of experiences

This desk review of the medical (or health) diaspora originating from the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region was conducted jointly by the Department of Health Systems Development at the World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (WHO EMRO) and the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) MENA Regional Office, both in Cairo.

The review starts with a brief overview of the (out)migration of health professionals from…

Understanding health inequities among transiting migrants within the Middle East and North African (MENA) region through strengthening data systems

The editorial argues that failure to integrate migration variables within the health information systems in many countries in the MENA region means that, to date, there has been an absence of comprehensive and disaggregated epidemiological data on infectious disease prevalence (including COVID-19), outbreaks, and vaccine coverage, making it difficult to map health disparities and inform evidence-based policy and service delivery.

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…