On 28 November 2018 the Migration Health Department of the IOM Regional Office and IOM Slovenia in coordination with the consortium members of the MIG-H Training project Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) organized the Migrant Health Training Dissemination Workshop in Ljubljana. The workshop publicized newly developed and piloted training modules on communicable diseases and mental health and discussed the lessons learnt from their implementation in 10 European countries. In Slovenia, trainings were delivered earlier this year to police officers, health professionals and social workers.

Organized as a pre-event to the European Public Health Conference and introduced by the consortium partners and funding agency European Commission DG SANTE, the project main objectives and the two modules developed were presented by both the LSHTM and IOM experts. Furthermore, an independent evaluator presented the results of the project evaluation followed by a panel discussion with member states representatives to discuss the development, pilots, evaluation and further dissemination of the newly developed training materials. The experience with the training implementation in Slovenia was presented by the Head of the Border police at the General Police Administration Ms Melita Močnik.

In light of the current international refugee situation, many European countries are developing policies and plans to better define their role in supporting migrants entering Europe. In line with the aims of the Europe 2020 strategy for fighting exclusion, the European Union has committed to improve access and appropriateness of health care services, health promotion and prevention for migrants. The training developed and piloted under this programme was developed to enable frontline health, police and other professionals to develop key competences, which can support them in providing more appropriate health care to migrants and refugees.