Migration and Health

Numerous public services have adjusted to provide universal access or extend social protection coverage to an increasingly diverse population through bilateral and multilateral social security agreements or unilateral measures.

One mechanism for extending social protection and paving the way for universal coverage is the establishment of social protection floors – nationally defined sets of basic social security guarantees that ensure at a minimum, that over a lifetime, all those in need have access to essential health care and to basic income security.

Costa Rica has designed a comprehensive National Integration Plan (2018–22) in 2017 that promotes equal opportunities and respect for human rights to improve inclusive social, economic and cultural spaces.

In 2017, Indonesia enacted a new Law on the protection of Indonesian migrant workers  (Law No 18/2017).  Replacing an old Law, the new Law reinforces policies to provide end-to-end protection to overseas workers, which including the measures as follows:.

Public Services International (PSI), in collaboration with ILO's European Union-funded “Decent Work Across Borders” (DWAB) project has produced seven pre-decision, pre-departure, and return migration guides for healthcare workers.

As a model whereby member states, international organizations and stakeholders can come together for the shared vision for promotion of health of migrants, conditions that ensure decent work, as well as reduce vulnerabilities in migration, the Joint UN Initiative on Migration and Health in Asia (JUNIMA) ensures effective regional coordination to advocate for access to health for migrants in Asia.

Sri Lanka has established an inter-ministerial and inter-agency coordination framework for migration health and development comprised of a National Steering Committee on Migration Health (inter-ministerial), a National Migration Health Task Force (inter-agency and inter-ministerial) and a Migration Health Secretariat. The Secretariat coordinates the national migration health agenda housed within the Ministry of Health and supported by IOM.

The Chilean Ministry of Health’s “Sectoral Health Advisory Team for Immigrants”  developed the Health Policy for International Migrants launched in 2017 which now constitutes the national framework for actions focused on migrant’s healthcare.

The health policy promotes the right to health for all persons in the nation’s territory (including citizens and foreign nationals), a system that is migrant-sensitive, and the lowering of health service access barriers.

Athens has a population of approx. 660,000 (2011), with more than 15,000 immigrants (March 2016), but also nearly 400,000 youth that have emigrated from the city due to the financial crisis. Being the major economic hub of Greece, displaced people come to Athens looking for friends and relatives, empty apartments and cheap housing, as well as higher chances of finding work than in the country’s rural areas. 

The ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) was signed on 15 December 1995 by the ASEAN Economic Ministers, allowing for Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRA) in various professions and an agreement on the Movement of Natural Persons (MNP) 

• Labour migration and mobility 

Bilateral agreements constitute an effective way to regulate migration flows and to foster development, both in the countries of origin and destination.