Dr Gill Richardson is leading the work package on Migration and Health for Wales in the Joint Action for Health Equity in Europe (JAHEE). The JAHEE aims to:
- Deliver a policy framework with a menu of actions and recommendations for national, regional and local take up and implementation;
- Develop better policies and improve monitoring, governance, implementation and evaluation;
- Implement good practice and facilitate exchange and learning; and
- Identify factors of success, barriers and challenges, and how to overcome them.
Thirteen countries are participating in the work package on Migration and Health, with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health as the work package coordinators.
The first major stage in this work was to complete a Country Assessment of the current situation in terms of policy, practice and data relating to migrant health.
JAHEE Programme Manager Rebecca Fogarty (nee Scott) worked with Gill to complete this country assessment. The submission will now inform the choice of activities over the next 18 months to address some of the issues identified. Information was requested by EU on a range of topics, including availability of data and research relating to migrant health, policies and governance, inter-sectoral action on social determinants of health, migrants’ access to health services, responsiveness of health services, and vulnerable groups.
We gathered information from multiple sources, including the Office of National Statistics, the Home Office, the Wales Strategic Migration Partnership and Welsh Government, as well as PHW’s own Observatory Analytical Team. Key findings include a lack of visibility of migrants in policies relating to health and in accessible datasets, a need to focus on improving the health literacy of migrants, and the importance of migration for maintaining Welsh population levels.
Rebecca and Gill were commended by the Norwegian Programme Leads for their submission.