Spain offers universal access to basic health services. Beyond the most favourable scheme enjoyed by EU nationals covered by EU common legislation, all migrants staying in Spain, irrespective of legal status, have access to the basic national health system. This measure has proved its utility during the pandemic.
This policy brief provides information and identifies a number of key recommendations to assist governments and other stakeholders in designing COVID-19 policy responses that can help to ensure the protection of migrant workers, as well as to inform responses for the protection of refugees and those displaced working in countries other than their own, differentiated by gender as appropriate and based upon relevant international labour standards, and ILO guidance and good practices.
In countries of origin, innovative ways of transnational engagement proved to be efficient to face the health crisis, In Somalia, for instance, health professionals from the diaspora have provided technical support to hospitals in their communities of origin. This new project unveiled by the IOM in Somalia is part of a continuing effort to address this health care delivery shortage. It uses video cameras, screens, personal computers and digital mobile devices such as tablets to enhance diagnosis and treatment of patients.
Municipalities across the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina hired migrants from Venezuela with professional medical degrees that had not yet been revalidated by the national government. Some 4,500 doctors, nurses, and other health professionals were hired.
Several countries, such as Argentina and Peru, have eased the process of recognition of skills for foreign health workers to broaden the stock of professionals with the relevant skills and help fight the health crisis induced by the pandemic.
The Municipality of Lampedusa and Linosa in Italy provided Quarantine Ships for the migrants arriving in Lampedusa during the pandemic and activated a COVID-19 area in the reception center to ensure access to testing and health services to migrants upon arrival.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) designed a set of prevention practices including:
The Philippines with one of the largest populations of migrant workers in the world, repatriated over 200,000 distressed and stranded Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) and Overseas Filipinos (OFs) when the pandemic hit, and brought to life its approach of ‘high-tech, low-touch’. Existing tech platforms and databases were used as well as social media to share information with migrants in need of support across the world.
The Colombian Government’s Income Solidarity Programme provides financial support to those most in need to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on households. Vulnerable Venezuelans have been enrolled in government assistance initiatives such as the "Solidarity Income Programme" and the "School-Feeding Programme", based on the delivery of food kits
As individuals and organizations in localities across the globe mobilize to support those displaced by war, conflict, and climate disasters, meeting immediate needs of migrants and refugees is critical. At the same time, building the infrastructure needed to support and engage migrants and broader communities in the long term is essential to ensure strong life outcomes beyond the initial welcoming period.