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WHY MIGRATION HEALTH DATA?
Against ever-evolving migration and global health dynamics, promoting the health of migrants whilst addressing the wider dimensions of migration health has become increasingly complex. To do this, evidence is key. Quality, timely and reliable disaggregated data is needed on the different ways in which migration affects health, as well as how health affects migration. Across migration health topics, from everything to inequalities in health-care access to mobility of health workers, timely and quality data is key to inform policies and programmes.
However, in reality, data is scarce and policy opportunities on migration health are constrained by a lack of timely and quality information. For example, it is not always clear which diseases migrants have a higher burden of compared to non-migrants, or which ones migrants may be at greater risk of than other groups. This lack of clarity makes it challenging to design effective public health interventions for migrants. Common data challenges include low integration of migration variables in health data collection, fragmentation of data sources, and many others. Migration health data remains weak at all levels, with particular gaps on the health of migrant children, mental health and well-being of migrants, disability and migration, and other topics. Analyses from the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) reveal that little to no Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) data related to health is disaggregated by migratory status (WHO, 2022b; Mosler Vidal, 2021). Moreover, there are significant data and research gaps on migration health in low-income countries (Sweileh et al., 2018).
Better data is essential to champion the health of migrants, so that they can enjoy their universal fundamental right to health through inclusive health systems. Inclusive health policies enhance overall public health and to inform these, a strong evidence base that includes data on migrants as a key population subgroup is necessary. Data on the health of migrants is needed to ensure accessible health services for migrants and for public health preparedness, response and planning. Improving migration health data can help ensure that migrants have access to quality health care, improving their health outcomes and integration prospects. Several benefits of health system inclusivity, which can only be achieved with stronger data, have been proven. Equal health-care access is linked to growth and can increase employment and productivity, and restricting access to refugees is expensive in the long-term, while extending care is linked to savings (Koczan et al. 2021; Trummer et al., 2016). Data is also needed to monitor progress towards national goals, such as to track progress on disease control programmes. There is increasing recognition by national disease prevention and control programmes of the need to adopt migrant-inclusive strategies, as some migrant populations pose a challenge to disease elimination campaigns if they are hard to reach in terms of data collection and/or treatment (Adams et al., 2022; WHO, 2015). Moreover, better data is needed to monitor progress towards global goals on both migration and health; for example, to make cross-country comparisons of progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) and its calls to “leave no one behind,” and the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
Without this data, efforts to address migration health are constrained. Not only is it impossible to champion the health of migrants without strong data, but it can negatively impact the population at large. For example, data on all population groups, including migrants, is necessary for effective infectious disease monitoring and control (WHO, 2022a). What is counted counts; without robust information systems on migration health, it is difficult to make the case to prioritize migrants in global and public health agendas, in turn to identify relevant financing gaps, fundraise for these, and design and implement related efforts to support migration health.