19 May 2017 - The Migration Health Department of the IOM Regional Office Brussels in collaboration with the Migration Health Department of the IOM Headquarters and the IOM Country offices in Croatia, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Serbia and Cyprus, hosted on May 15, 2017, in Brussels the dissemination event of the action Re-Health 'Outcomes and steps forward'. 

The conference was divided in two parts: the morning session with a welcome note from IOM MHD HQ, the Regional Office and the European Commission (EC-DG SANTE) during which a technical meeting with the Member States took place to discuss the action, the preliminary results from the feasibility study and plan the next steps; the afternoon part where works have been introduced by the IOM Regional Director, IOM country offices and the European Commission, showcased the main achievements and further disseminated them with a broader number of stakeholders. 

Participants from national and local health authorities from the cited countries attended the event as well as other stakeholders, including represetatives from Medecins du Monde, the Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment in Belgium, ASP Syracuse, EuroHealthNet, KEELPNO, The Croatian Emergency Medicine Institute, FAO, the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation, Fedasil, the Slovenian National Institute of Public Health, the Ente Ospedaliero Ospedali Galliera, the Center for Health and Migration, PICUM, ASPHER as well as others.

Between October 2016 and mid-May 2017 over 2050 electronic – Personal Health Records (IOM/European Commission unified standardized tool for Health Assessment)  have been collected. The overall acceptance of the e-PHR by the migrants is 93%, noting that some of the implementation sites are pre-removal centers, where fear of early removal was widespread.

The role and importance of Health Mediation has been highlighted by the participants during the conference and across the entire action. More than 150 individuals attended the Re-Health trainings specific to Health Mediation, the usage of the e-PHR and other  topics of relevance as Gender Based Violence and Reproductive Health. Furthermore in the frame of Re-Health IOM MHD, in collaboration with the IOM Country Offices, assisted national and local authorities in capacity building actions. 

The project is co-funded by the European Commission (EC) through the General Directorate for Health and Food-DG SANTE and implemented by IOM Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy.

For more information on the project please visit: http://re-health.eea.iom.int/.

To learn more about the activities of the European Commission in the area of migration health please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/health/migrants/policy_en.