Chiapas establishes a Migration and Health Interinstitutional Committee

Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico - On September 26, 2018, the Interinstitutional Committee on Migration and Health was launched in Tapachula. The Committee will encourage coordination between the organizations that provide health services to migrants. It will also serve as a space for training, coordination, and exchanging information among the different institutions to improve healthcare for migrants.

Migration is a global phenomenon, with over 258 million international migrants and 760 million internal migrants according to 2018 data. In some cases, mobility not only affects physical health but also the mental and social wellbeing of migrants, who often encounter diverse barriers to accessing essential healthcare services. Some factors influencing their vulnerability are their status as migrants, linguistic barriers, the lack of healthcare policies, and the inaccessibility of services. In this context, it is vital to recognize migration as a determining social factor for health.

Accordingly, IOM worked through its Mesoamerica Regional Program to contribute to strengthening interinstitutional dialogue and fostering an understanding of the link between the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of migrants and the socioeconomic development of the receiving community, as well as its own.

Dr. Leticia Montoya Liévano, administrator of the Office of the Secretariat of Health stated, "Today is an important day on which we all, as human beings, remember that the right to access healthcare is a human right, I invite those of you at this table to coordinate efforts and make the necessary arrangements to advance healthcare access for migrants."

This initiative is the result of the coordination efforts and progress on interinstitutional dialogue on healthcare access in the context of human mobility promoted since 2014 by the 8th Healthcare Jurisdiction (JSVII) of Tapachula, Doctors of the World France (MDMF), the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM), and more recently, the Panamerican Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).

For more information, contact Sonia Lopez at IOM Mexico, Tel: +52 962 642 56 74, email: mslopez@iom.int