Pre-conference: Inclusion of refugee and migrant groups to address key health challenges for a sustainable future

Wednesday 8 November, 9:00 – 17:00 Dublin time (network lunch included)

Organised by:

EUPHA Migrant and ethnic minority health section; Lancet Migration; Participatory Health Research Unit, University of Limerick, Ireland

Introduction

Countries across the region and the world are emerging from the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, the Ukraine war in Europe is relentless and progress on climate change is a cause for concern. Migration is a key cross-cutting issue for all these three global health challenges COVID-19, conflict and climate change. Migration is now   increasingly, recognised as one of the most pressing public health issues of our time. Therefore, it is imperative that there is inclusion and integration of refugee and migrant health issues in mainstream public health. Further, it is necessary to disrupt a pattern of exclusion whereby, refugees and migrants are rarely involved in research about their health. This is urgent because, while the involvement of other patient and population groups is becoming more common, opportunities for refugees and migrants’ involvement are ad hoc and unevenly spread. This means that the opportunity for their lived experiences, capabilities and agency to inform the research agenda and arising actions is being missed.

According to WHO participatory Health Research, developed in the Global South, can be harnessed to develop best practice guidance for public health researchers. While not a panacea, it presents a rich tradition and strong evidence base about values, principles and practices that characterise meaningful academic-community partnerships. It also provides evidence about the ways that meaningful partnerships can lead to gains for the individuals and communities involved, as well as for changes in the health system.

To address key unmet needs of refugees and migrants and secure their inclusion at all levels to foster a sustainable future for humanity, this preconference will attempt to tackle some of these issues. The preconference will have four sessions. The first one focuses on methodological innovation for participatory health research (PHR) with refugees and migrants. PHR is envisaged as a cross cutting issue that will also be addressed in the following three sessions focused on current crises that impact on migrant health: COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and climate change. In these sessions, the topics will be reviewed through the lens of PHR and, also highlight other important work underway.

The pre-conference is designed to be create an innovative, interactive, interdisciplinary space for dialogues and learning together. It will build skills of both young and senior researchers.

Programme

The detailed programme is available here.

Registration

The registration fee is € 150 which includes networking lunch and refreshments.