Помните о разрыве: доклад саммита по миграции и ВИЧ

Posted: 30th Март 2023

We brought together supporters and stakeholders from 21 European countries on 2 – 3 November 2022 for our first annual Mind the Gap: Migration and HIV Summit. Though we know that migrant communities are innovative, resilient and effective at creating impact in their localities, oftentimes with limited resources and institutional support, our summit was an acknowledgement that we can make greater progress by leveraging our collective expertise, experience and perspectives to address the common challenges that migrant communities face across Europe when trying to access healthcare.

The summit spanned two days:

• 59 participants highlighted the expertise and innovation from the community on day one
• 73 participants focused on a high-level policy roundtable on day two

Conversations and sessions among migrant-led organisations; those living with HIV; academics; representations from UNAIDS, WHO, the European Commission and IAPAC; funders; representatives from pharmaceuticals; and other supporters ultimately pointed towards the lack of immigration status as the key barrier preventing migrants from accessing healthcare in Europe. This exclusion is underpinned by:

• restrictive conditions along migration journeys that exacerbate health inequities and expose migrants to increased health risks
• legal, social, cultural, practical and economic barriers to HIV prevention and care services
• anti-migrant movements across the EU/EEA
• punitive policies that limit support for migrants in precarious circumstances
• xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, anti-sex worker and racist vitriol, stigma and discrimination
• the fallouts from COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine that compound healthcare disparities, systems inadequacies and social and economic inequalities impacting Black and ethnic minority migrant communities

The gaps

Our full report details the barriers and gaps identified by stakeholders that impede the realisation of universal healthcare for migrants and they are broadly summarised as:

• the prevention and testing gap
• the access gap
• the data gap
• the stigma gap
• the policy gap

You can watch recordings of the summit здесь. and download the full report below to see explanations of these gaps and stakeholder recommendations for improving migrant health outcomes. Our Mi-Health Europe team is leading a working group to draft a position paper based on summit outcomes and we continue to gather data with our Mi-Health HIV Partnership to better advocate for migrant-responsive and inclusive healthcare policies. We look forward to bringing supporters and stakeholders together again later in 2023 to further narrow these gaps and more fully include migrants living with or at risk for HIV in healthcare in Europe.

A final note

Without the diverse perspectives and expertise of all participants and stakeholders, the first of its kind Mind the Gap summit would not have offered the engaging and action-oriented experience that it was. We wish to warmly thank all for their participation, enthusiasm and feedback. Their knowledge and experiences were instrumental in discussions, group work and in shaping the direction of our future work. We would also like to especially thank our capable steering committee members and summit collaborators for their expertise, support and time. As always, we remain grateful for our Mi-Health HIV Partnership members as well as for the continued support of our sponsors.

Recordings of summit здесь.