Abstract

IOM assists crisis-affected populations, governments, and host communities to strengthen and re-establish primary health-care systems. As a formal partner of the World Health Organization (WHO), and as a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of the InterAgency Standing Committee (IASC) Global Health Cluster, and the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), IOM is a key player in responding to humanitarian and public health emergencies, as well as supporting health system recovery and resilience.

As people across the world become more and more mobile, the link between human mobility and health has become increasingly relevant, dynamic, and complex. Not only is the health of migrants affected by the circumstances of their migration process along the mobility continuum – at the origin, transit, destination, and return locations – but movements also impact public health as people on the move and the communities hosting them interact within and across borders.

As people across the world become more and more mobile, the link between human mobility and health has become increasingly relevant, dynamic, and complex. Not only is the health of migrants affected by the circumstances of their migration process along the mobility continuum – at the origin, transit, destination, and return locations – but movements also impact public health as people on the move and the communities hosting them interact within and across borders.

This overview showcases only some of the key activities implemented in 2019 across the world, in lower-income settings and in complex emergencies, along the world’s most perilous migration routes, in the aftermath of natural disasters, or in response to disease outbreaks. 

IOM assists crisis-affected populations, governments, and host communities to strengthen and re-establish primary health-care systems. As a formal partner of the World Health Organization (WHO), and as a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of the InterAgency Standing Committee (IASC) Global Health Cluster, and the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), IOM is a key player in responding to humanitarian and public health emergencies, as well as supporting health system recovery and resilience.

As people across the world become more and more mobile, the link between human mobility and health has become increasingly relevant, dynamic, and complex. Not only is the health of migrants affected by the circumstances of their migration process along the mobility continuum – at the origin, transit, destination, and return locations – but movements also impact public health as people on the move and the communities hosting them interact within and across borders.

IOM assists crisis-affected populations, governments, and host communities to strengthen and re-establish primary health-care systems. As a formal partner of the World Health Organization (WHO), and as a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of the InterAgency Standing Committee (IASC) Global Health Cluster, and the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), IOM is a key player in responding to humanitarian and public health emergencies, as well as supporting health system recovery and resilience.

Millions of refugees and migrants reside in countries devastated by protracted conflicts with weakened health systems, and in countries where they are forced to live in substandard conditions in camps and compounds, and high-density slum settings. Although many such settings have yet to feel the full impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the pandemic is now having an unprecedented impact on mobility, in terms of border and migration management, as well as on the health, social, and economic situation of migrant populations globally.

This handbook follows a comprehensive approach to health system strengthening at borders in order to support International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR) national focal points and other national agencies in developing and implementing evidence-based action plans for IHR capacity development at ground crossings.