Vietnamese guest workers arrive at Incheon airport of the Republic of Korea (Photo: VNA) An international conference was held in Hanoi on June 26 bythe Vietnamese Ministry of Health and the ASEAN Secretariat with support fromthe IOM and the World Health Organisation (WHO). It attracted over 160officials, experts, and scholars from ASEAN member countries who attended bothin person and via videoconference.
According to reports delivered at the event, ASEAN has longbeen a source, a point of transit, or a destination of migrants and theirfamilies. It has the third biggest number of international migrants in Asia,after India and China.
Migration has caused complex burdens of health security onthe region, including risks of communicable diseases, occupational injuries andaccidents, mental health problems, non-communicable diseases, and maternal andchild health. Such infectious diseases as HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis (TB) remainchallenges 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 infectionsin the world.
ASEAN is currently uneven in terms of healthservices. Meanwhile, universal health coverage is a target hard to be reached evenamong citizens in their countries, not to mention migrants.
The IOM’s recent studies pointed out that barriers to transboundarymigrants’ access to health services include the language barrier, discrimination,financial limitation, a shortage of transnational health insurance, and thelack of a mechanism for transnational patient transfer. Migrants were even morevulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they were unable to fully accessnecessary health services.
In her remarks, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi LienHuong stressed the need to share experience, initiatives, and policy models tostrengthen cooperation among ASEAN members, as well as between ASEAN and partnersto improve migrants’ health.
IOM Chief of Mission in Vietnam Park Mi-hyungapplauded 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.
Parkalso highlighted the progress made by the IOM and ASEAN countries in promotingaction plans on migrants’ health in accordance with the Global Compact forMigration.
Migrants’ health is one of the bloc’s priorities underthe ASEAN Post-2015 Health Development Agenda, particularly ASEAN Health Cluster 3 on strengthening health systems and accessto care./.
VNA
