Health Monitoring among Migrants, Asylum Seekers and Refugees for Evidence-Informed Health Care Policy, Practice and Action

Dear Colleagues,

Human migration and mobility are shaping contemporary societies in an increasingly interconnected world. However, health systems have not kept pace with the demands and needs raised by a world on the move. As such, health needs, health risks, and broader determinants of health for increasing numbers of international migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees often go unnoticed and unresponded to. The Covid-19 pandemic has made these gaps and inequities painfully visible. Health monitoring can be defined as ‘regular collection of data on relevant components of health and its determinants in the population or in samples thereof, aimed at informing the public health policy process’ (EUPHA). It requires strong health information systems that are well equipped to collect reliable data from health  and other societal sectors for quality assurance, disaggregated data analysis, and timely dissemination by converting the data into relevant information for health-related decision-making. Yet, health monitoring, and the health information systems where data are derived, struggle to keep up with the diversity and mobility of societies, especially in relation to migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees, and with the multiple legal, socio-economic, political, and environmental conditions in which they live.

Recent scholarship has identified major research gaps in advancing knowledge, policy, and practice of health monitoring in order to improve health care provision among migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. These relate to:

• cross-border harmonisation of definitions of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees in health information systems;
• cross-border compatibility and inter-operability of data;
• international cooperation and governance of data management;
• advocacy and action in response to health monitoring and data (whether health interventions or health response);
• development and implementation of diversity-sensitive and multi-lingual health surveys;
• data linkage methods and strategies to enhance health information systems;
• access to and integration of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in health monitoring policies;
• systems and strategies to improve health data in detention and reception and transit contexts, which pose challenges in terms of access, data collection, and monitoring;
• linkage to broader global health agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals, Universal Health Coverage, and related reporting and monitoring systems;
• ethical and legal challenges; and
• capacity building and human resources for effective health monitoring and health responses.

We are very excited about editing a Special Issue on Health Monitoring among Migrants, Asylum Seekers, and Refugees for Evidence-Informed Health Care Policy, Practice, and Action, and cordially invite the submission of high-quality papers that address any of the topics above. Papers that combine a high academic standard coupled with a focus on policy or practice and the implementation of solutions, strategies, and approaches to improve monitoring of health and health care among migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees are particularly welcome. We would also particularly welcome submissions that highlight how health information and monitoring have been used to improve health responses and/or health policy. We invite the submission of quantitative research, qualitative research, rigorous literature reviews, policy analysis, and implementation research

Prof. Dr. Kayvan Bozorgmehr
Dr. Miriam Orcutt
Dr. Santino Severoni
Dr. Dominik Zenner
Guest Editors

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