Strengthen Community Based Care to minimize health inequalities and improve the integration of vulnerable migrants and refugees into local communities (MigHealthCare)

Primary investigator in Sweden: Professor Hannah Bradby (Department of Sociology, Uppsala University).

Collaborators:  Sarah Hamed (PhD candidate at the Department of Sociology, Uppsala University) and senior lecturer Adele Lebano (Department of Sociology, Uppsala University).

Project lead: Pania Karnaki, Prolepsis Institute, Kifisia, Greece.

Funding: This project is funded by the European Commission consumers, health, agriculture and food executive agency health programme.  

Duration: March 2017- May 2020.

Project description: The project maps existing provision of interventions to improve the physical and mental health and healthcare for vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers in nine European counties, including Sweden, to support integration and reduce health inequalities.

Using focus group discussions with key stake holders in the provision of health and social care for refugees and asylum seekers, the challenges and possibilities will be mapped. The potential for developing such services in local social settings will be explored.

Based on material developed from the focus group discussions, a survey will be designed for refugees and asylum seekers to ensure that their own views and experiences are included in the development of services.

Finally a social care model will be implemented as a pilot scheme in various settings (but not in Sweden) in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the care provided. 

See the project website for further information: https://www.mighealthcare.eu/

Hannah Bradby, Adele Lebano, Sarah Hamed, Alejandro Gil-Salmerón, Estrella Durá-Ferrandis, Jorge Garcés-Ferrer, William Sherlaw, Iva Christova, Pania Karnaki, Dina Zota, Elena Riza (2020) ‘Human rights and citizenship-based claims for access to healthcare – Evidence from policy makers, NGO, and healthcare workers across Europe’ chapter 5 in Religion, Migration and Existential Wellbeing (eds) Moa Kindström Dahlin, Oscar Larsson, Anneli Winell, in Routledge Studies in Religion Series, Routledge ISBN 9780367345068. 

Adele Lebano, Sarah Hamed, Hannah Bradby, Alejandro Gil-Salmerón, Estella Durá-Ferrandis, Jorge Garcés-Ferrer, Fabienne Azzedine, Elena Riza, Pania Karnaki, Dina Zota, Athena Linos (2020) ‘Migrants’ and refugees’ health status and healthcare in Europe: a scoping literature review’ BMC Public Health 20, 1039.

2020, Bradby H, Lebano A, Hamed S, Gil-Salmerón A, Durá-Ferrandis E, Garcés-Ferrer J, Sherlaw W, Christova I, Karnaki P, Zota D and Riza E (2020) Policy Makers', NGO, and Healthcare Workers' Accounts of Migrants' and Refugees' Healthcare Access Across Europe—Human Rights and Citizenship Based Claims. Frontiers in Sociology 5:16.