|
Conference Series on Migrant Health Care
Conference series on health care for migrants living in Mekong region is carried out under the financial and technical support of USAID and IHPP (Programmed for International Health Policy, Ministry of Health, Thailand). The goal of the workshops is: 1) find out the current status of international migration, policy, finance and health care services provided for migrants of five countries in Mekong sub-region in order to determine the general problems. 2) Find appropriate approaches to promote financial protection mechanisms, access to healthcare services for migrants between countries. 3) Raising awareness and commitment of policy makers, international partners, civil society organizations and agencies to expand the intervention and find strategic solutions for each countries. Two workshops are going to be held in March and June in Myanmar and Thailand.
The first meeting will be held in Mandalay, Myanmar from 23 March 2014 to 26 March 2014, focusing on some issues of policy, finance and health care services for migrants. Participants included delegations from five Mekong region countries (Cambodia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam), USAID, IHPP and representatives from ILO and WHO. During the three day workshop, the participating countries presented the current status and challenges in healthcare services for international migration; provide strategic framework to address the challenges posed; identify priorities that each country should implement in the short term and long term.
Vietnam has a policy system for employees, which refers to some solutions to protect migrants and overseas workers. However, the healthcare services provided for Vietnamese people working in international labor still haven’t had the system solutions.
Many migrant workers in the border between Vietnam and Laos, as well as other countries of the Mekong Sub-region are free migrants or short-term migrants, according to season. This is the group of spontaneous migration, difficult to manage, so information and healthcare services for this group is limited. The challenge in healthcare services for migrants also stems from the lack of collaborative solutions to the host country, where Vietnamese people migrating.
The first workshop is seen as an opportunity for countries to build their own action plans as well as cooperation with other countries in which have migrant workers. Vietnam delegation has identified four main activities to do in the near future, namely: 1) Strengthen commitment in protecting migrants through opening workshops define the role of stakeholders in healthcare services for international migrants, particularly open immigration; 2) Strengthening the role and function of the focal agency; 3) Promote the implementation of policies to ensure security for Vietnamese people working abroad in countries where having a cooperation agreement; 4) Promote friendly-healthcare for free migrants in the some hospitals in the borders of Vietnam - Laos, Vietnam - Cambodia.
|
