Strengthening the health care delivery system to respond to the health needs of the migrant population: European nations′ perspective

Abstract

In the modern era of globalization, a remarkable increase in the number of people who are migrating every year has been reported. In the recent couple of years, the European region is facing an ever-rising challenge of meeting with the health needs of thousands of migrants and refugees, in a timely and effective manner. The migrants and refugees remain a difficult population sub-group to handle for the local program managers, owing to the existence of multiple challenges or barriers. In order to improve the quality of life of migrants, there is an enormous need for health system preparedness, careful planning, capacity building, comprehensive epidemiological data, and training of health professionals. To conclude, as migrants and refugees represent a vulnerable section of society, none of the planned interventions can provide sustainable results unless strengthening of the primary health care and consideration of the socio-cultural beliefs of the migrants are taken into account in the planned interventions.

Keywords

• European region
• migrant
• vaccine preventable diseases