Between 29 and 31 May 2018 IOM Slovenia held a three-day training for health care workers and other professionals on the topic of migration health, with a specific focus on communicable diseases and mental health. The aim of the training was to support the participants in the development of key competences in providing appropriate health care to migrants and refugees.

The training was carried out within a regional project coordinated by Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in collaboration with the IOM, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) titled “Development of Specific Training Modules for Health Professionals, Law Enforcement Officer and Trainers, on Migrant’ and Refugees’ Health, Addressing Communicable Diseases (CDs) and Mental (MH) Problems” (shorter MIG-H). The project MIG-H is funded by the European Union, the European Commission's Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (CHAFEA).

Experts in mental health, communicable diseases and law enforcement delivered training sessions to fifteen medical doctors, nurses and social workers from public and private health centres across Slovenia as well as staff of the asylum and detention centres. The training sessions provided an insight into the specificities of healthcare services for migrants, such as cultural mediation, first psychosocial aid at sea, shores and borders and linkages between migration and substance abuse.

On 30 May the trainers delivered a session to over 40 law enforcement officers of the Police Administration Koper to provide them with basic knowledge on topics such as first psychosocial assistance and recognizing an unwell person. On 27 June a similar session was conducted in Novo mesto for police officers and local medical workers.