As delegates from governments around the world converge on Rio de
Janeiro for the first ever World Conference on Social Determinants
of Health, IOM encourages governments to look beyond the
traditional social determinants of health such as poverty,
education, living and working conditions and recognize that
migration is also a social determinant of the health of migrants.

"The way forward for IOM is clear," says IOM Director General
William Lacy Swing, who will take part in the closing session
featuring a panel of heads of agencies discussing Social
Determinants and the Life Course. "We must first address the myths
about migration and acknowledge as a global community that migrants
are indispensable to today's globalized economic and social
development."

"Second, we must recognize that while migrants make important
contributions to national and global economies, they are often
exposed to conditions during the migration process and upon arrival
in destination countries that increase their vulnerability to poor
health outcomes."

Previous global commitments, such as the 2008 World Health
Assembly Resolution on the health of migrants have highlighted the
importance of addressing the health of migrants in ever growing and
diverse society. Yet, putting these commitments into action will
require strong government leadership and partnership.

"IOM is committed to partnering with governments to provide the
necessary assistance to ensure migrants' right to health and to
overcome challenges such as discrimination and anti-migrant
sentiment," says Swing.

At the conference, governments are expected to adopt a Rio
Declaration expressing their commitment to reduce health inequities
through action steps addressing social determinants of health.

Within the Rio Declaration, IOM encourages Governments to:

• Explicitly recognize migration as a social determinant of the
  health of migrants.
• Strengthen efforts to address health inequities by ensuring
  that migrants and mobile populations have equitable access to
  health care and support services regardless of their legal
  migration status.
• Continue to emphasize multi-sectoral partnerships to develop
  policy coherence in addressing social determinants affecting the
  health of migrants; these collaborations should include health and
  non-health actors from migration, labour, housing and education
  sectors.
• Advocate for the removal of discriminatory policies and
  practices which affect the health of migrants.
• Promote the collection of disaggregated data relating to the
  social determinants of health for migrant populations.
• Encourage health policies that foster the integration and
  participation of migrants and the development of migrant-friendly
  health services.

For more information, please contact:

Haley West

IOM Geneva

Tel: +41 79 793 84 06

E-mail: "mailto:hwest@iom.int">hwest@iom.int