Migration and Health

The medical training initiative accommodates overseas post-graduate medical specialists to undertake a fixed period of training in the UK for up to two years. This is a temporary route and it seeks to promote circular migration so that participants in a particular scheme could return to their home country and apply the skills and knowledge developed during that time in the UK. 



The MTI scheme allows International Medical Graduates (IMGs) to come to the UK for a maximum of 2 years to train within the National Health Service (NHS).

The UK funds a health partnership scheme, which enables overseas volunteering by UK health professionals in order to contribute effectively to global health development and also to strengthen the skills of the UK workforce when the volunteer returns. 

The Health Partnership Scheme (HPS) works to improve healthcare for some of the world’s poorest people through partnerships between the NHS and UK institutions and developing countries’ health systems.

The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) was established in 1966 under the Ministry of Health. The Fund's mission is to provide  accessible, affordable, sustainable and quality social health insurance through effective and efficient utilization of resources to the satisfaction of stakeholders, that is the members to the Fund. All the people who contribute to the Fund have access to its facilities and to government hospitals and certain private hospitals within the country. This service is also provided to migrant workers.

The Argentinean Migration Law 25.781 provides, amongst others, the right to health and education for all foreigners, regardless of their migration situation.

The Greek Government is establishing an effective, humane oriented response to the current migration challenges including the need to combat irregular migration and to address the situation of vulnerable migrants, in full respect of human rights and the EU acquis on migration and asylum. The Revised Action Plan on Asylum and Migration Management is the strategic implementation of the Government’s determination to reform the asylum and immigration processes.

The Temporary Return of Qualified Nationals (TRQN) programme enables the Diaspora of the targeted countries to contribute to the reconstruction and development of countries of origin. The objective of the programme is to contribute to the reduction of poverty and to stimulate economic development by strengthening the institutional capacities of both public and private organisations.

The Algerian-Belgian Medical Association is made up of doctors who organize trips and training days in Algeria. They carry out surgeries free of charge. These actions involve both Belgian and Algerian doctors. Currently there are people that have been trained in Algeria and are now working in Belgium.

This pilot scheme includes specialized employment services and a system for skills testing and certification for main destination countries in Europe. The project objective is to improve governance over circular migration of professionals and highly skilled personnel in the health care sector. This project is funded by the European Commission.

Norway implements the WHO Code of Practice by scaling up education for relevant personnel to ensure sustainability of its own health care system. It has formally stopped recruiting health personnel from countries facing critical shortages in the health workforce.

The National Health Weeks from Mexico are an annual program that mobilizes community clinics to offer a week of services aimed at the Mexican/Latin population with health promotions and programs designed for migrant groups. They provide information about available health services.