H.3. Round Table: Geopolitical change and migrant and refugee health workforce: how to strengthen the WHO Global Code

Abstract

Abstract Background Many European health systems heavily rely on migrant workers to ensure service provision for their populations and the health and care workforce crisis is likely to reinforce the pull factors. Ireland is leading this trend in Europe with missing investment in education and a migrant health and care workforce that is even exceeding the domestic graduates in numbers. Sub-Saharan African countries, on the other hand, strongly expand education programs for health and care workers, often as a business model, but fail to invest in their health systems and domestic employment capacities, thereby pushing even stronger migration flows to Europe. A third pattern in Europe comprises refugee health and care workers, especially from the Ukraine, that need human rights protection but also bring in important expertise and may support knowledge exchange. The three selected examples highlight strong variety of the institutional and geopolitical conditions that are driving the migration flows, creating diverse individual needs and impacting differently in health systems. Against this backdrop, a critical review of existing global governance frameworks is required, such as the WHO Global Code, and the European Union policy. Objectives This workshop uses the three different scenarios – underinvestment in education; overinvestment in education and underinvestment in health systems; and integration of refugees and knowledge exchange – to explore challenges and threats, especially for health systems in low- and middle-income countries in the Global South, as well as new emerging capacities. The workshop begins with statements from health workforce migration experts, illustrating the three scenarios from the perspective of European countries and the Global South, followed by a critical review and practical recommendations from European public health policy and finally from the WHO Europe on how to strengthen the WHO Global Code and knowledge exchange with Ukraine. Outcome The workshop will explore actionable policy recommendations based on an expert panel that connects research evidence with European public health and WHO governance approaches. These recommendations will be further explored in a moderated plenary debate with ample time for interactive discussion. Joining forces with WHO and across EUPHA sections, the workshop facilitates knowledge exchange to respond effectively to new emerging global health and care worker migration patterns and to critically discuss how to optimise the WHO Global Code of Practice and other regulatory tools to strengthen equity and solidarity-based global governance approaches. Key messages • Migrant health and care workers and refugees create increasingly diverse migration patterns that comprise new threats as well as capacities. • Changing geopolitical conditions call for strengthening the EU and WHO governance tools of global migration. Speakers/Panellists Pieternella Pieterse Institute of Global Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland Olga Gershuni Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlnds Tomas Zapata WHO/Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark