Brussels, 10/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Brussels on Thursday 6 December, EU health ministers held a policy debate on health and migration in the EU and adopted conclusions on this.
In its conclusions, the Council calls on: (1) the Commission to: - integrate in implementation of the new health strategy those aspects relating to the health of migrants, according to gender, with a view to improving knowledge on the health of migrants and developing health promotion, disease prevention and access by migrants to healthcare, in national practice and in legislation; - envisage the setting in place of a network of national health and migration experts to lay the foundations for future work in the EU; (2) the member states to: - grant special attention to the health of migrants in all political processes concerned, and more specifically in employment, social, cooperation and development policies; - facilitate access to healthcare for migrants; - take account of the specific health problems relating to gender, as women and children are the most vulnerable; - step up efforts to promote the exchange of data on the health of migrants as well as knowledge on the effectiveness of migrants' healthcare. The text of the conclusions is based on the results of the conference organised in Lisbon on 27-28 September by the Portuguese EU presidency on the theme: “Health and Migrations: better health for all in a unified society”. (G.B.)