Refugee and Migrant Health Workshop held on 14-16 October 2017 in Athens, Greece

Refugee and Migrant Health Workshop held on 14-16 October 2017 in Athens, Greece

IOM MHD RO Brussels was invited to participate at the workshop ‘Refugee and Migrant Health’ held on 14-16 October 2017 in Athens.

Hosted by Hellenic Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO) and organized by the EPIET Alumni Network (EAN) and the Mediterranean Program for Intervention Epidemiology Training (MediPIET Consortium), the workshop aimed at improving the knowledge and strengthening the network of professionals working in the Mediterranean region by providing an understanding of refugee/migrant-related health issues, including aspects on cultural and gender, as well as an insight on surveillance systems, health screening programs and migrant health policies and recommendations within the EU and neighbouring countries.

The workshop was attended by representatives of Ministries of Health, Institutes of Public Health, National centres for disease control, academia as well as WHO and other civil society organisations and NGOs from European and Non-European Mediterranean countries. 

Represented by Roumyana Petrova-Benedict and Jelena Cmiljanic, IOM contributed to the workshop by presenting an overall presentation on the current status on migration health in Europe, and a second one related to the IOM’s experience in health assistance programmes  in cooperation with HAP Geneva, and the electronic tool ‘Electronic Personal Health Record (E-PHR)’, currently under implementation within IOM/EC Re-health2. The IOM MHD representatives also facilitated group work on health assessments.

Other presentations were also given during the workshop, including the related to RO MHD the study on ‘cost analysis of non-provision of healthcare to irregular migrants and ethnic minorities, by the Centre for Health and Migration as well as a more detailed presentation on the MIPEX Health strand both developed within the IOM/EC’s Equi-Health project.

In addition to the interactive presentations, case study sessions, a field visit and a rapid assessment exercise was undertaken in to two camps.