Migrants belong to the most vulnerable and exposed social strata in society and require special consideration in public health strategies. The overall health status of migrants is remarkably lower compared to the health status of the general population. This is related to the fact that migrants are more exposed to risks that have an impact on health, such as poverty, bad living conditions, restricted access to the labour market and health services, etcetera. Additionally, a lack of information and communication problems create barriers to get access to health promoting interventions.
This national report describes the results of a literature analysis and the analysis of the interviews with representatives of organisations providing health promotion interventions in The Netherlands. The conclusions are on three levels: the intervention level, the organisational level, and the institutional level.Â
Provider/Intervention level
Some good practices are: the involvement of migrant(s) groups in all stages of the intervention, the adaption of general interventions to health needs and questions of migrant groups, the intervention is part of a chain of support or care, and the combinations of health education and physical activities.Â
Organisational level
According to the providers, the following conditions on the organisational level are necessary: good working relationships and networks with migrant organisations as well as with neighbourhoods or communities, availability of intercultural experts (like translators) in all parts of the organisation, and sharing knowledge about working with migrant groups.
Institutional level
The most important conditions on the institutional level are: the provision of adequate and long-term financial means by local governments to guarantee the further development and continuity of the activities, information on local level concerning the health of and health care for migrants, and taking into account the diversity in the whole field of health promotion and preventive health care.