In May 2019, the 72nd World Health Assembly acknowledged the health of refugees and migrants as a global priority through the acceptance of the World Health Organization’s global action plan to promote their health.1 Since then, however, the discrepancy between policy rhetoric and global reality has continued to be painfully apparent, with high profile media coverage of deaths of migrant children, separation of children from parents, and detention in appalling conditions on the US border2 and direct targeting of migrant detention centres3 and indefinite detention in overcrowded conditions without drinking water or sanitation in Libya.4

The global action plan is intended to guide WHO, partner agencies, and governments in meeting the health related objectives identified in the 2018 global compacts on migration and refugees56 and strengthen international cooperation to protect people on the move. The action plan acknowledges that to prevent inequities, public health considerations for refugees and migrants cannot be separated from those of their host populations, or from tackling the broader determinants of health. It therefore retains a health system strengthening and multisectoral approach at its core and builds on a declared commitment to strong collaboration between all UN agencies, led by WHO, the International Organisation for Migration, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Labour Organisation, and others, to bring the health of refugees and migrants to the fore of global policies.

(People’s Health Movement)

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