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).
HIV epidemics in the EU and European Economic Area are increasingly diverse in transmission modes and groups affected. Substantial gaps in data exist on HIV burden and access to the HIV continuum of care among migrants living in this region, particularly individuals in precarious circumstances such as migrants with irregular status. Migrants have a higher HIV burden compared with the general population, and high rates of post-migration HIV acquisition.
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 the region.
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.
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 dignity and well-being of migrants.
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 work.
This issue of the Bulletin features peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, reports, and commentaries focusing on some of IOM’s migration health programmes such as mental health and psychosocial support, vaccination, tuberculosis screening, and public health emergency management.
Two interviews are included in the current episode of the audio podcast: one on the vaccination programme for US-bound refugees globally and the other on migration health governance in Africa.
The spread of DR-TB strains threatens recent gains in global TB control, with evidence that the majority of patients with rifampicin-resistant (RR-TB) or multi-drug resistant (MDR-TB) TB acquire their infection through person-to-person transmission. Inadequate diagnostic and treatment options have hampered an effective global response. The use of Xpert MTB/RIF as a rapid and sensitive frontline TB detection test has been shown to improve patient outcomes and is cost-effective, but data for RR/MDR-TB are lacking; partly hampered by the poor treatment options available in the past.
