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Looking beyond 2022: what can we do better for the health of migrants and advance GCM commitments?

There are over 280 million international migrants, in which 35.5 million are children; many in irregular and precarious situations, often without full enjoyment of the right to health or access to healthcare. These inequities have been accentuated further during the pandemic.

Addressing the health needs of migrants responds to their right to health, ensures security for global public health, facilitates integration, and contributes to social and economic development. It represents an important investment because it promises benefits to both migrant and host populations. This has been encompassed in numerous international instruments, treaties and conventions, including Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals; the 2019 political declaration on Universal Health Coverage; the 2019 WHO Global Action Plan: Promoting the health of refugees and migrants 2019-2023; and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).

Although promising changes have occurred on the ground in migration health policies and actions since the GCM’s adoption, many commitments were temporary and during the pandemic. Therefore, work is needed to make them permanent and to further advance the GCM – not only objective 15, but also objectives 1, 6, 7, 10, 16 and 22 - and other political commitments.

This event at the margins of the first International Migration Review Forum, that will occur from 17-20 May 2022 in New York, has as a baseline the concept that migration and health are inextricably linked, and key to sustainable development. It will bring together Member States and key stakeholders to discuss what we can do better to progress the global health and migration agendas beyond the IMRF.

Register here: https://who.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BA1LKAJsQWyW22f1BDNG_g2

Date: , -
Main organizer/s
WHO
the Government of Portugal
Government of the Kingdom of Morocco
IOM
UNFPA
UNICEF
IFRC
IFMSA and PICUM
Language
English
Geographic Scope
Global
Regional
Regions
Africa
Americas
Asia
Workstream Output
No
Regional Review Process
No
GCM Objectives
General
Status
Published

*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).