JOINT CALL | MIGRATION & HEALTH

Reinforcing the Commitment to Addressing Migration & Health as a Global Public Health Priority

Migration and health are inextricably linked, and this nexus is essential to all aspects of public health. Inclusion of the over 1 billion people globally who are migrants, refugees or displaced are essential to achieving all global health-related and development targets, such as the United Nations 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ensuring Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and strengthening preparedness and response to health emergencies. It is also integral to advancing the broader UN80 Initiative, which emphasizes peace, development, humanitarian action, and human rights.

The health of migrants and refugees is often treated as a humanitarian issue and associated with crises, but it is, in fact, a strategic imperative for global health, and essential for longer term health system responses. Addressing the health needs of these populations embodies the core values of global health, providing a powerful and practical model for how health systems can become more equitable, just, resilient, and globally responsive. Migrant health intersects with various social determinants, and migration and displacement have been highlighted themselves as determinants of health⁷. Tackling these determinants fosters an integrated, upstream approach to health – a blueprint for how global health must tackle complex and interconnected health determinants globally.

At this critical moment for global health, with the changing geopolitical and funding environment when those most vulnerable are at risk of being left behind, we therefore call on governments and global health leaders to:

• Ensure health systems are equipped to address the public health challenges of migration and displacement, supported by robust research and evidence-based policy.
• Recognize migrants and refugees as integral to the health systems of many high-income countries.
• Monitor and mitigate the health and development impacts of shifting migration policies.
• Maintain or increase support for migration and health and ensure that it remains a priority in the global health agenda, including within WHO.