This report provides an overview of activities led and implemented by the Migration Health Division of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 2023, in close collaboration with Member States, other United Nations agencies and partners. These interventions served to deliver and promote comprehensive, preventive and curative health programmes that are beneficial, accessible, rights-based and equitable for migrants, mobile populations and host communities.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) actively collaborates with different stakeholders and partners globally to enhance rapid detection and response mechanisms for disease outbreaks, with an approach anchored in a comprehensive understanding of human mobility dynamics. The movements of populations, including the points of origin, transit, destination, and return, encapsulate mobility within and across borders.

With a goal of establishing enduring leadership and commitment for the health of refugees and migrants, WHO, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and Morocco co-organized the Third Global Consultation on the Health of Refugees and Migrants in Rabat, Morocco, on 13–15 June 2023, and led to the adoption of the Rabat Declaration. 

With a goal of establishing enduring leadership and commitment for the health of refugees and migrants, WHO, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and Morocco co-organized the Third Global Consultation on the Health of Refugees and Migrants in Rabat, Morocco, on 13–15 June 2023, and led to the adoption of the Rabat Declaration. 

Background
Tuberculosis knowledge, practices, and perceived stigma and discrimination among patients with tuberculosis are key factors for the management of the disease.

Objectives
The objectives of the study were to assess knowledge, practices, perceived stigma and discrimination, perceived family and health workers support, perceived level of satisfaction with healthcare services, delay in diagnosis/treatment and reasons for delay among patients with tuberculosis in Jordan.

To communicate with U.S.-bound refugees during travel to the United States during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, five federal and international organizations collaborated in a strategic work group to synergize COVID-19 prevention health messaging and COVID-19 considerations before, during, and after travel, as well as promote shared resources. This work group sought to establish consistent COVID-19 messaging, disseminate messages to partners, and identify message gaps as the pandemic evolved.

The issue of the Bulletin features publications on migration, zoonoses, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, mental health, among others.

The audio podcast episode discusses the importance of the inclusion of migrants into policies and actions towards zoonotic disease prevention and control as well as outlines guidance on the integration of migration into health interventions.

Health knowledge and behaviors can impact well-being and promote community integration post-arrival for refugees and migrants being resettled. Health and hygiene curricula are efficient and accessible mechanisms to mitigate the risk of chronic and infectious diseases in populations being resettled. This report summarizes a successful interagency/interdisciplinary Uganda-based collaboration between the International Organization for Migration, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the University of Minnesota.

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 profile of the country of origin.

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 dignity and well-being of migrants.