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Migrants pose no disease risk to settled population, report highlights

Migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean celebrate after learning that a boat from a Dutch charity, Sea Watch, will rescue them - AFP
Migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean celebrate after learning that a boat from a Dutch charity, Sea Watch, will rescue them - AFP

Migrants pose minimal health risk to populations in their host country but countries must do more to ensure that they are fully vaccinated, a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

The WHO European region’s first ever report on the health of migrants and refugees seeks to dispel myths about refugees and migrants and stresses that they are unlikely to pass on disease to the host population in their new country.

However, a breakdown in health systems in migrants' country of origin and poor living conditions and sanitation on arrival or during their journey may increase their risk of contracting infectious diseases, a report says.

Around 10 per cent of the 920 million people in WHO’s European region – which stretches from Portugal in the west to the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the east – are made up of migrants. Of these 90 million migrants, less than seven per cent are refugees.

Just 12 out of the 53 countries in WHO's European region, including the UK, Italy, Greece and Uzbekistan, have vaccination policies which include migrants and refugees and the report urges countries to ensure that new entrants receive basic vaccines based on the schedule of the host country.

Language, information, cultural and economic barriers all prevent migrants having vaccinations, the report says. Migrants’ fears over their legal right to stay in a country also affects their willingness to go to a health clinic or hospital, says the report.

Tuberculosis is a disease that is often associated with migrants and the report estimates that foreign-born individuals make up around 8.2 per cent of all TB notifications in Europe – but the number varies greatly between countries.

In the UK and Germany, for example, at least 70 per cent of all new cases of the highly infectious disease are among migrants, compared to no more than 20 per cent in Russia and the former Soviet Union.

But Dr Santino Severoni, coordinator of public health and migration for WHO’s European office, stressed that refugees did not pose a risk to the settled population.

“Migrants and refugees are exposed to homelessness and are living in conditions of poverty. There is no transmission of disease to the rest of the population. The process of integration is slow – new arrivals live among their own community and they don’t mix with the rest of the population. There is no public health threat,” he said.

The report also found that refugees and migrants are at lower risk of all forms of cancer, except cervical cancer. However, the disease is more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage and therefore they are more likely to have worst health outcomes, says the report.

But as migrants adjust to their new lives, often taking less exercise and eating more unhealthy food than in their home countries, they are at risk of contracting non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, says the report.

Dr Severoni said there was little evidence that migrants posed a greater burden on health services than the host community – however, they were more likely to access health services at a later stage of disease.

“Migrants come to a new country to find a job and they're usually in a condition where they can make the journey so they're basically healthy.

“An evaluation of the cost and benefits of migrants shows that they do not deplete public health systems. However, there are higher costs if they access services as an emergency or at a later stage of disease,” he said.

The report highlights the plight faced by unaccompanied child migrants, with three out of four girls trafficked into Europe subject to sexual exploitation. Boys in detention are also at risk of sexual abuse, the report warned. It said their feelings of "fear, ignorance, stigma and powerlessness" prevented them from speaking out.

Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO regional director for Europe, said the report gave a snapshot of the health of refugees and migrants in the European region.

“As migrants and refugees become more vulnerable than the host population to the risk of developing both noncommunicable and communicable diseases, it is necessary that they receive timely access to quality health services, as everyone else.

“This is the best way to save lives and cut treatment costs, as well as protect the health of the resident citizens,” she said.

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