Abstract

Learn about vaccination for US-bound refugees at IOM.

Learn about Hepatitis B as well as Hepatitis B testing and vaccination for US-bound refugees at IOM.

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.

Background
US-bound refugees undergo required health assessments overseas to identify and treat communicable diseases of public health significance—such as pulmonary tuberculosis—before migration. Immunizations are not required, leaving refugees at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases. In response, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of State developed and co-funded a global immunization program for US-bound refugees, implemented in 2012 in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration.

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.

IOM's Global Migration Health Assessment Programme (HAP), under the Migration Health Division, conducts pre-migration health activities that are among the most 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 receiving country protocols and the epidemiological profile of the country of origin.

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.