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.

COVID-19 among migrants, refugees, and internally displaced persons: systematic review, meta-analysis and qualitative synthesis of the global empirical literature
Author/s: Maren Hintermeier, Nora Gottlieb, Sven Rohleder, Jan Oppenberg, Mazen Baroudi, Sweetmavourneen Pernitez-Agan, Janice Lopez, Sergio Flores, Amir Mohsenpour, Kolitha Wickramage, Kayvan Bozorgmehr
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…
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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
Author/s: Sifrash Meseret Gelaw, Sandra V. Kik, Morten Ruhwald, Stefano Ongarello, Tesfa Semagne Egzertegegne, Olga Gorbacheva, Christopher Gilpin, Nina Marano, Scott Lee, Christina R. Phares, Victoria Medina, Bhaskar Amatya, Claudia M. Denkinger
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…
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Use of Point-of-Care Handheld Ultrasound for Splenomegaly in United States-Bound Refugees: A Novel Technology with Far-Reaching Implications
Author/s: Tim Kummer, Alexandra M. Medley, Alexander Klosovsky, Erin Mann, Patricia Mburu, Karen Ekernas, Betty Bonass, Jacob C. Stauffer, Stewart Walukaga, Michelle Weinberg, Stephen J. Dunlop, William M. Stauffer
Ultrasound (US) is an invaluable clinical tool. New point-of-care US technology holds great promise for hard-to-reach and mobile populations such as refugees. The implementation of US in unique and challenging settings has been hindered by cost, fragility of equipment, need for uninterrupted electricity, training, and difficulty in sharing data/image files impeding quality assurance. The recent development of more flexible, durable, high-quality, low-cost, handheld US technology has offered…
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Immunisation status of UK-bound refugees between January, 2018, and October, 2019: a retrospective, population-based cross-sectional study
Author/s: Anna Deal, Sally E Hayward, Alison F Crawshaw, Lucy P Goldsmith, Charles Hui, Warren Dalal, Fatima Wurie, Mary-Ann Bautista, May Antonnette Lebanan, Sweetmavourneen Agan, Farah Amin Hassan, Kolitha Wickramage, Ines Campos-Matos, Sally Hargreaves
Summary
Background
WHO’s new Immunization Agenda 2030 places a focus on ensuring migrants and other marginalised groups are offered catch-up vaccinations across the life-course. Yet, it is not known to what extent specific groups, such as refugees, are immunised according to host country schedules, and the implications for policy and practice. We aimed to assess the immunisation coverage of UK-bound refugees undergoing International Organization for…

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
Author/s: Sifrash Meseret Gelaw, Sandra V. Kik, Morten Ruhwald, Stefano Ongarello, Tesfa Semagne Egzertegegne, Olga Gorbacheva, Christopher Gilpin, Nina Marano, Scott Lee, Christina R. Phares, Victoria Medina, Bhaskar Amatya, Claudia M. Denkinger
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.
Retrospective clinical data and CXR images were collected from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) pre-migration health assessment TB screening global database for US-bound migrants. A total of 2,812 participants were…
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Diagnostic accuracy of chest X-ray interpretation for tuberculosis by three artificial intelligence-based software in a screening use-case: an individual patient meta-analysis of global data
Author/s: Sandra V. Kik, Sifrash M. Gelaw, Morten Ruhwald, Rinn Song, Faiz Ahmad Khan, Rob van Hest, Violet Chihota, Nguyen Viet Nhung, Aliasgar Esmail, Anna Marie Celina Garfin, Guy B. Marks, Olga Gorbacheva, Onno W. Akkerman, Kgaugelo Moropane, Le Thi Ngoc Anh, Keertan Dheda, Greg J. Fox, Nina Marano, Knut Lönnroth, Frank Cobelens, Andrea Benedetti, Puneet Dewan, Stefano Ongarello, Claudia M. Denkinger
Abstract
Background
Chest X-ray (CXR) screening is a useful diagnostic tool to test individuals at high risk of tuberculosis (TB), yet image interpretation requires trained human readers who are in short supply in many high TB burden countries. Therefore, CXR interpretation by computer-aided detection software (CAD) may overcome some of these challenges, but evidence of its accuracy is still limited.
We established a CXR library with images and metadata from…
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Refugees, migrants, internally displaced people and COVID-19: protocol for an updated systematic review
Author/s: Maren Hintermeier, Amir Mohsenpour, Nora Gottlieb, Sergio Flores, Rohleder Sven, Sweetmavourneen Pernitez-Agan, Janice Lopez, Kolitha Wickramage, Kayvan Bozorgmehr
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-…
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Migrants on the Move and Food (In)security: A Call for Research
Author/s: Manuela Orjuela‑Grimm, C. Deschak, C. A. Aragon Gama, Silvia Bhatt Carreño, Leslie Hoyos, Veronica Mundo, Ietza Bojorquez, Karen Carpio, Yolice Quero, Alberto Xicotencatl, Cesar Infante
Abstract
Food insecurity contributes to negative outcomes for health and wellbeing, and its impact may be exacerbated during periods of vulnerability. While food insecurity is both a driver and a consequence of migration, anecdotal evidence indicates that it is also common during migration when people are ‘on the move’, although its prevalence and severity during these periods are largely undocumented. Food security monitoring is critical to ensuring the universal right to…

Adopting an ethical approach to migration health policy, practice and research
Author/s: Kristine Husøy Onarheim, Kolitha Wickramage, David Ingleby, Supriya Subramani, Ingrid Miljeteig
Abstract
Migration health is affected by decision-making at levels ranging from global to local, both within and beyond the health sector. These decisions impact seeking, entitlements, service delivery, policy-making, and knowledge production on migration health. It is key that ethical challenges faced by decision-makers are recognized and addressed in research and data, clinical practice, and policy making on migration health. An ethical approach can provide methods to…

Population movements, borders, and Chagas disease
Author/s: Andrea Avaria, Laia Ventura-Garcia, Mariana Sanmartino, Carlos Van der Laat
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…
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