Imagine being forced to flee your home with little notice or deciding to leave with your family to pursue a better life, leaving behind everything familiar. If you had the time, what would you choose to take with you, how would you travel across borders, and what would you need to start over from new?

These are the challenging questions that many people continue to face when considering migration. Human migration has reached unprecedented levels in recorded history,1 with the number of migrants rising from 150 million in 2000 to 281 million in 2024 (Table 1).2 Low and middle-income countries (LMICs) host 83% of the world’s refugee population.3 The term “migrant” is broad and encompasses various groups of people, including migrant workers, asylum seekers, refugees, undocumented migrants, and immigrants.1–3

Table 1: Key facts and figures2

Table sourced from: International Organization of Migration. World Migration Report 2024. Accessed October 2024. https://publications.iom.int/books/world-migration-report-2024.



What barriers to healthcare do migrants face?

Migrants frequently encounter a range of obstacles when accessing healthcare in a new country, including legal, systemic, administrative, language, religious, sexuality, and financial challenges—just to name a few! These barriers can lead to new health vulnerabilities and worsen existing medical conditions. Furthermore, migrants are disadvantaged when accessing healthcare services in comparison to citizens in many host countries, including access to medicines and vaccines. Refugees and migrants often have poorer health outcomes, as shown in a 2022 World Health Organization (WHO) report. The report emphasizes the significant impact of migration and displacement on a person's health and well-being, particularly when intertwined with other socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental factors.4

Chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and malnutrition are common among migrants. In addition, their circumstances may increase their susceptibility to mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse.3,5 With all of this in mind, it is clear that members of our own communities do not have equitable access to healthcare, for reasons out of their control.

“There are three major areas that pose initial significant challenges to asylum seekers being able to access healthcare:” ‒ General Practitioner (GP) Partner, Kingsnorth Medical Practice, UK

  1. Language barriers—Many of these patients do not speak English, and most of the information and patient advice available on the NHS are not translated
  2. Lack of understanding on how the UK health system operates—Patients are often fearful that they will have to pay for healthcare and therefore are reluctant to seek support. Many have no idea of where to go for help and what steps they need to take
  3. Self-care—Patients are often expected to look after themselves with a degree of self-care (eg, taking over-the-counter medications such as paracetamol and ibuprofen for minor illnesses or monitoring their temperature). All these simple steps require financial support, which asylum seekers often do not have

Conversely, global migration has led to an increase in migratory healthcare professionals; a significant factor driving work-related migration in the UK has been the issuance of skilled worker visas for the healthcare sector.6 Migrant healthcare workers not only play a crucial role in society, but they are also frequently the first healthcare workers encountered by migrants in community pharmacy and GP settings.7 Having those who have experienced migration delivering healthcare to other migrants can be an effective way of reducing some of the barriers associated with accessing new healthcare systems.

Is there more we can do to improve access to care?

There has been an ongoing, positive trend toward greater access to medicine across the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, often focusing on LMICs. Companies such as Takeda have developed a three-pillared program, with the aim of improving access to medicines, including: partnering to strengthen healthcare systems, bridging affordability barriers, and applying an integrated and holistic business approach earlier in the product development process.8

At the start of 2023, the WHO published the Refugee and Migrant Health Toolkit, which aims to help individual host countries access all available guidelines and tools to develop policies for integrating migrants and refugees into their health systems.9 While we are pleased to see that these recent frameworks are being published, there is still an extensive global gap across healthcare systems when it comes to addressing the health needs of refugees and migrants. This should be a global health priority and is an integral principle of the right to health for all.

As healthcare communicators, it is our responsibility to amplify the voices of those who may not be heard. We believe in and advocate for equitable healthcare for all and call for collective action to ensure that migrants can access healthcare services that are sensitive to their needs. We are interested to learn more about how the industry is actively participating in improving access to medicines for migrants.

Are you equipped to remove healthcare boarders?

We are all poised to promote equity within healthcare, but do we feel equipped? There is a real opportunity for the industry to broaden its role, providing urgent and essential services to some of the people who are most underserved, and provide a positive contribution to people, healthcare systems, and society.

Our work matters—because good communication can improve lives! We are thinking outside the box to prepare strategies that could be implemented across healthcare systems to improve access to medicine for people who are migrants.10 Are you and your organization? Imagine the difference you could make…

REFERENCES

  1. Squires A et al. Res Nurs Health 2022;45:503–11.
  2. International Organization of Migration. World Migration Report 2024. Available from: https://publications.iom.int/books/world-migration-report-2024. Accessed October 2024.
  3. Aljadeeah S et al. BMJ Open 2022;12:e068917.
  4. WHO. WHO report shows poorer health outcomes for many vulnerable refugees and migrants. Updated 20 July 2022. Available from: https://www.who.int/news/item/20-07-2022-who-report-shows-poorer-health-outcomes-for-many-vulnerable-refugees-and-migrants. Accessed October 2024.
  5. Alarcon FJ. Dela J Public Health 2022;8:20–5.
  6. The Migration Observatory. Migration and the health and care workforce. Updated 27 June 2023. Available from: https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migration-and-the-health-and-care-workforce/. Accessed October 2024.
  7. Filmer T et al. Res Social Adm Pharm 2023;19:977–88.
  8. Takeda. Access to Medicines. 2023. Available from: https://www.takeda.com/about/corporate-responsibility/corporate-sustainability/access-to-medicine/. Accessed October 2024.
  9. The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Lancet Infect Dis 2023;23:261.
  10. UCL. Social Responsibility of Pharmaceutical Companies Towards Refugees and Migrants. Updated 22 March 2022. Available from: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/global-business-school-health/news/2022/mar/social-responsibility-pharmaceutical-companies-towards-refugees-and-migrants. Accessed October 2024.