Huge Health Needs for World ’s One Billion Migrants

Credit: IOMBy IPS World DeskROME/COLOMBO, Feb 24 2017 (IPS)With an estimated 1 billion migrants today –or one in every seven people– their health needs are huge. Nevertheless, health systems are struggling to adapt and consequently access to health services among migrant populations varies widely and is often inadequate. This has been the key issue before senior public health officials from over 40 countries, who met on February 23 in Colombo, concluding that addressing the health needs of migrants reduces long-term health and social costs, enhances health security and contributes to social and economic development.Health systems must be strengthened to provide equitable, non-discriminatory, migrant-centred health services, noted the participants in the 2nd Global Consultation on Migrant Health, which was hosted by the Government of Sri Lanka, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Colombo, Sri Lanka.The scale of human migration currently witnessed is unprecedented, WHO reminds, there are an estimated 1 billion migrants in the world today, including 250 million international migrants and 763 million internal migrants, the UN body adds. “Some people migrate voluntarily; while others are forcibly displaced, fleeing conflict and war. This has important implications for the health sector.”On this, IOM said that when one combines the volume of international migration, the large scale of internal migration of an...

Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - February 24, 2017 Category: Global & Universal Authors: IPS World Desk Tags: Featured Global Headlines Health Humanitarian Emergencies IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse Migration & Refugees TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news