NIHMP - National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty

The National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty was established by law on August 6, 2007. It was initially granted a three-year experimental period which was then extended for one year until October 28, 2011.  On July, 15th 2011 the results achieved by the NIHMP during the experimental period were recognized and its mandate was further extended until December 31, 2013.  In 2012 the Institute was  identified as the national referral centre for social and health care issues related to migration and poverty and for transcultural mediation in the health care field. The Institute's staff is composed of doctors, nurses, psychologists, anthropologists, transcultural mediators, administrative and executive staff.

The NIHMP assists migrants in three different settings: in emergency situations, where primary assistance is provided to migrants in arrival areas, in close collaboration with other social and health care actors and under the supervision of the Prefectures involved; in the initial process of social inclusion of newly-arrived migrants; and in metropolitan areas, when social exclusion is reported. Over the years - and following the objective given by its institutional Law – the Institute has experimented and developed an integrated model where medical anthropologists, psychologists with ethnopsychiatry background, and cultural mediators work together to offer tailored and accessible health care services. The NIHMP now represents a referral point for Italian and migrant disadvantaged people, refugees, asylum seekers, homeless people, victims of prostitution trade, unaccompanied minors, women with female genital mutilations and victims of torture. The institute adopts a holistic model which tends to treat individuals not as mere “patients”, but as people with complex needs which require transdisciplinary answers.