Migration and health in the EU 1 Migrant health

Eurohealth is a quarterly publication that provides a forum for researchers, experts and policymakers to express their views on health policy issues and so contribute to a constructive debate on health policy in Europe. The views expressed in Eurohealth are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of LSE Health, Merck & Co. or the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Patterns of migration in Europe are evolving dynamically. This is not just as a result of the expansion of the EU and the growing phenomena of internal EU migration; it also has reflected the demand for both skilled and unskilled labour from outside the EU, economic migration and the arrival of displaced individuals from areas of conflict, persecution and/or natural disaster. Yet only a minority of countries in the EU provide the same access to health care services for all migrants as for the resident population. Regardless of their legal status, migrants can be at particular risk of poor physical and mental health; they may be isolated after arrival in their host country or be unaware of any entitlement to use publicly funded health care services. Even where available, services may not be suitable to the needs of many migrant groups. Most of the articles in this issue of Eurohealth are based on background papers prepared for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) project 'Assisting Migrants and Communities (AMAC): Analysis of Social Determinants of Health and Health Inequalities' co-funded by the EU and the Portuguese Government. The papers were presented at the EU-level Consultation on Migration Health – Better Health for All, which took place on 24–25th September 2009 in Lisbon, organized by IOM within the AMAC project under the auspices of the Office of the Portuguese High Commissioner for Health and the Portuguese Ministry of Health. In 2007, health and migration was a major theme of the Portuguese Presidency. It was also prominent under the recent Spanish Presidency, which notably hosted and gave political support to the WHO/International Organization for Migration Global Consultation on Migrant Health. As María-José Peiro and Roumyana Benedict describe in this issue of Eurohealth, both Presidencies have also contributed to several developments at national, European and global levels. While positive progress has been made, substantial challenges remain. Not least among these, as Paola Pace notes, are some of the legal obstacles to health care access, while María-Teresa Gijón-Sánchez and colleagues highlight …