Vietnamese guest workers arrive at Incheon airport of the Republic of Korea (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Officials of Vietnam and the International
Organisation for Migration (IOM) have voiced support for stronger cooperation
in to improve the access of migrants, especially transboundary ones, to
healthcare services.
An international conference was held in Hanoi on June 26 by
the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and the ASEAN Secretariat with support from
the and the World Health Organisation (WHO). It attracted over 160
officials, experts, and scholars from ASEAN member countries who attended both
in person and via videoconference.
According to reports delivered at the event, ASEAN has long
been a source, a point of transit, or a destination of migrants and their
families. It has the third biggest number of international migrants in Asia,
after India and China.
Migration has caused complex burdens of health security on
the region, including risks of communicable diseases, occupational injuries and
accidents, mental health problems, non-communicable diseases, and maternal and
child health. Such infectious diseases as HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis (TB) remain
challenges to ASEAN members. Some countries still record a high incidence of TB,
HIV, and malaria cases. Notably, the Philippines, Myanmar, Indonesia,
Thailand, and Vietnam are among the 30 countries with the highest rates of TB infections
in the world.
ASEAN is currently uneven in terms of health
services. Meanwhile, universal health coverage is a target hard to be reached even
among citizens in their countries, not to mention migrants.
The IOM’s recent studies pointed out that barriers to transboundary
migrants’ access to health services include the language barrier, discrimination,
financial limitation, a shortage of transnational health insurance, and the
lack of a mechanism for transnational patient transfer. Migrants were even more
vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they were unable to fully access
necessary health services.
In her remarks, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien
Huong stressed the need to share experience, initiatives, and policy models to
strengthen cooperation among ASEAN members, as well as between ASEAN and partners
to improve .
IOM Chief of Mission in Vietnam Park Mi-hyung
applauded the cooperation between the IOM and the Health Ministry.
She noted in a dynamic world with growing travel demand,
regional cooperation and partnerships are important to improving migrants’
health, and that healthy migrants will help create healthy communities.
Park
also highlighted the progress made by the IOM and ASEAN countries in promoting
action plans on migrants’ health in accordance with the Global Compact for
Migration.
Migrants’ health is one of the bloc’s priorities under
the ASEAN Post-2015 Health Development Agenda, particularly ASEAN Health Cluster 3 on strengthening health systems and access
to care./.
Source: VietnamPlus
