Health of refugees and migrants - WHO Western Pacific Region (2018)

Overview

To achieve the vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development– to leave no one behind – it is imperative that the health needs of refugees and migrants be adequately addressed. In the 140th session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board in January 2017, the Board requested that its Secretariat develop a framework of priorities and guiding principles to promote the health of refugees and migrants. In May 2017, the 70th World Health Assembly (WHA) endorsed Resolution WHA70.15 on “Promoting the health of refugees and migrants,” urging Member States to strengthen international cooperation on the health of refugees and migrants in line with the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants and to consider providing the necessary health-related assistance through bilateral and international cooperation to countries hosting and receiving large refugee and migrant populations, as well as using the framework of priorities and guiding principles at all levels. In addition, the Resolution requests the Director-General to conduct a situation analysis and identify practices, experiences, and lessons learned in order to contribute to the development of a draft global action plan to be considered for adoption by the 72nd WHA in 2019 (16).