This issue of the Bulletin features publications focusing on migration data, migration health research priorities, and infectious diseases including tuberculosis and COVID-19.

The audio podcast episode centers on the key findings from an IOM study, conducted in collaboration with FIND and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of three commercially available computer-aided detection systems for detecting tuberculosis.

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.

This research report explores and critically examines the short- and longer-term gender implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on migration and the well-being of migrants worldwide. This research report aims to inform ongoing policy and programmatic responses to the pandemic and highlights best practices and challenges.

Surveillance is a pillar of the public health response to epidemics and pandemics. Yet, gaps in surveillance, from the local to the global, continue to leave the world vulnerable to infectious hazards. To address these vulnerabilities, the health emergency preparedness, response, and resilience (HEPR) architecture calls for a new approach to future surveillance - collaborative surveillance - that aligns traditional tactics with new initiatives to safeguard health for all.

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 mechanisms.

Abstract: North-west Syria (NWS) is a conflict-affected and unstable area. Due to its limited health infrastructure, accessing advanced COVID-19 testing services is challenging. COVID-19 antigen rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDTs) have the potential to overcome this barrier. A pilot project was implemented to introduce Ag-RDTs in NWS, aiming to determine the feasibility, uptake, and results of Ag-RDTs and identify facilitators and barriers to testing with Ag-RDTs.

This working paper highlights the urgent need to address the risk of zoonoses—diseases transmissible between animals and humans—to migrant workers in the livestock product value chain, arguing for the inclusion of migrants into evidence-building and actions for multilevel and interdisciplinary zoonotic disease prevention and control.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a global mobility deadlock with nearly all international borders closed for non-essential travel, left migrants in countries of destination acutely vulnerable with risks to health, as well as socioeconomic and social security status, compounded by diverging measures and impacts on mobility.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been monitoring the operational status of points of entry and travel restrictions and measures since March 2020, publicly availing this data on its COVID-19 Mobility Impacts platform since May 2020. IOM and the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) have been collaborating to analyse these data, on an annual basis, to ascertain the impact of COVID-19 on cross-border mobility of all forms over time.
 

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a key player in responding to humanitarian and public health emergencies as well as supporting health system recovery and resilience. Health support in emergencies is an essential part of IOM’s humanitarian mandate and recognized by the Organization’s Migration Crisis Operational Framework as one of the 15 sectors of assistance to address before, during and after crises.