At a high-level meeting on health and migration, hosted by WHO/Europe, health ministers and representatives of the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region will meet to discuss strategic priorities for health and migration beyond 2022.

17–18 March 2022, Istanbul, Turkey

At a high-level meeting on health and migration, hosted by WHO/Europe, health ministers and representatives of the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region will meet to discuss strategic priorities for health and migration beyond 2022. Representatives of refugee and migrant groups, partner organizations and the WHO African and Eastern Mediterranean regions will be involved to encourage participatory dialogue and interregional collaboration as part of a whole-of-route approach.

The high-level meeting is organized in a hybrid format (both online and in-person for invited participants) over 2 days and aims to:

• take stock and jointly build a new common vision for health and migration going forward;
• generate political leadership and momentum;
• strengthen existing connections and forge new partnerships, especially in collaboration with the WHO African and Eastern Mediterranean Regions;
• build consensus on new and emerging priorities in the area of migration health including, inter- alia, COVID-19, climate change and population dynamics; and,
• agree on modalities of work and the parameters for a common framework on migration health post 2022.

Background

• Since the late 2000s, large numbers of refugees and migrants have arrived into the European Region; this will likely continue in the coming years.
• Globally, an estimated 281 million people live outside their country of origin, which is more than 1 in 30 people.
• The European Region hosts approximately 36% of the global international migrant population.
• In 2020, international migrants made up over 13% of the total population in the Region, an increase from just under 4% in 1990.

Strategy and Action Plan on Refugee and Migrant Health

The health of refugees and migrants is increasingly recognized as vital for global public health. In 2016, the 53 Member States of the Region adopted the Strategy and Action Plan for Refugee and Migrant Health in the WHO European Region to address the public health and health system challenges related to migration. With the current Strategy and Action Plan expiring in 2022, the high-level meeting will serve as a platform to jointly design the vision for refugee and migrant health in the coming years.

The Strategy and Action Plan was unanimously endorsed by the WHO Regional Committee for Europe in September 2016. It outlined 9 strategic areas and 5 indicators to support development of national health policies and monitoring of priority areas related to refugee and migrant health. The next progress report on the implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan will be presented at the 72nd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe in 2022.

For all related documents visit WHO EURO Media Centre.