What is the evidence on existing national policies and guidelines for delivering effective tuberculosis, HIV and viral hepatitis services for refugees and migrants among Member States of the WHO European Region?

ABSTRACT

The WHO Regional Office for Europe has developed several action plans to deliver effective tuberculosis (TB)-, viral hepatitis- and HIV-related services for refugees and migrants within the WHO European Region. This report examines the available evidence on existing national policies and guidelines for delivering effective TB-, viral hepatitis- and HIV-related services for refugees and migrants in Member States of the WHO European Region.The review highlighted extreme heterogeneity between countries in the Region in the availability of relevant national guidelines and recommendations and in implementation of these documents. In the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region, only 15 primary policy/guideline documents relating to migrants and viral hepatitis, HIV or TB were identified. The promotion in Member States of policies advocated by WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control requires an understanding of the macro-level barriers to implementation. Furthermore, the design of national programmes needs to take account of barriers at the micro (individual) and meso (community) levels to uptake by migrant populations and to the adoption of policies by health-care practitioners.