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WHO CC - Capacity Building
Capacity building actions in favour of Serbian (2018) and Bosnia and Herzegovina governments (2019)
Alongside the fundamental issue of building evidence, the collaboration between INMP and the WHO/Europe also focuses on capacity building.
In this respect, on the basis of a WHO request, INMP conducted a capacity building action towards the Serbian government, through a two-day meeting in Rome (May 2018) with the representatives of Serbian institutions. Topics related to the health of immigrants were discussed, with particular reference to the Italian national guidelines on border checks (produced by INMP, in collaboration with the National Institute of Health and the Italian Society of Migration Medicine, and approved by the State-Regions Conference).
Moreover, following the large influx of refugees and migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina during 2018, INMP was asked by the WHO to conduct a two-day workshop in Sarajevo, with the representatives of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The workshop, held in February 2019, had the goal of elaborating, on the basis of qualified and quantified needs, a policy framework to fill the gap - identified in the legal, financial, organizational and personnel context - for the full implementation of the Italian guidelines on border checks, as adapted to the local situation.
The meeting resulted in a Country Assessment table, developed by INMP and the Bosnia and Herzegovina government representatives in a cooperative way, offering instructions for the analysis and the overcoming of the barriers for the implementation of the evidence based recommendation contained in the Italian guidelines in the Bosnia and Herzegovina reception system for migrants.
These capacity building activities are prodromal for the production of a WHO guidance document on border health checks for Refugees and Migrants in the European Region that will suggest how to implement the recommendations in the main national health systems and Refugees and Migrants reception system scenarios over the whole WHO European region. The guidance will be developed by INMP in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe.
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Capacity building action towards the Serbian government - Rome, May 2018 |
High-level meeting on health and migration in the WHO European Region, Istanbul 2022: the contribute of the WHO CC
The WHO Collaborating Centre on Health and Migration Evidence and Capacity Building has attended, on 17-18 March 2022, the High-level meeting on health and migration in the WHO European Region, organized by WHO/Europe in Istanbul (Turkey) and held in a hybrid format (both online and in-person for invited participants). On this occasion, the WHO CC was asked by WHO Europe to lead a technical session on interregional and cross-border issues: the case of public health screening at points of entry.
The session hosted contributions from Tanja Schmidt, Technical Officer, Health Emergencies Programme of the WHO Regional Office for Europe; Dalia Samhouri, Technical Officer, Refugee and migrant health, WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region; Ernest Dabire, Senior Advisor (Response Monitoring), Regional focal point for migration and health, WHO African Region; Elisabeth Waagensen, Technical Officer, Migration and health programme, WHO European Region; Gianfranco Costanzo (speaker and lead of the session), Health Director, National Institute of Health, Migration and Poverty, Italy, and co-Head of the WHO Collaborating Center on Health and Migration Evidence and Capacity Building and Jaime Calderon, Senior Regional Migration and Health Specialist, IOM Office for South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia.
Experiences and best practices in interregional and cross-border issues were shared by high-level government representatives from different countries of the WHO Regions. Evidence and tools to implement appropriate and effective public health measures at the point of entry were also discussed, including health checks and screening that assess the health of migrants and refugees and guarantee the public health of the populations.
The WHO CC contribution addressed the Italian Guidelines BORDER CHECKS - KEPT IN CHECK published by the INMP in 2017 and implemented in Italy in 2018, giving attendees inputs and advice for the implementation of evidence-based and sustainable guidelines on border health checks for migrants and refugees in different national scenarios.
The session also represented the opportunity to inform about the ongoing joint work of the WHO CC and the WHO Regional Office for Europe on the production of a Technical Guidance on Health screening and health checks of newly arrived refugees and migrants, planned to be released within the year.
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High-level meeting on health and migration in the WHO European Region, Istanbul 2022 |