According to a UN report on displaced people in Europe, migrants and refugees are more likely to suffer from health problems

"Refugees and migrants arriving in Europe do not bring any exotic or exotic communicable diseases," said Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe.

"The diseases they could have there are all well established in Europe and we also have very good prevention and control programs for these diseases," she added. "This applies to both TB and HIV / AIDS."

Among the other myths presented as false by the report, there was the belief that more vulnerable people were arriving in Europe than it was.

"International migrants make up about 10% of the population in the European Region, about 90 million people," said Dr. Jakab. "Of these, less than 7.4% are refugees and in some European countries, citizens estimate that there are three or four times more migrants than in reality."

Based on a review of more than 13,000 documents on the health of refugees and migrants in the WHO European Region – one of six regions of the world – the organization's report gives an overview of their situation, while the global migration is increasing.

This shows that they are at greater risk of developing health problems than host populations.

Citing data from the United Nations Migration Organization (IOM) indicating that more than 50,000 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean since 2000, the WHO report points out that women, young people Men, adolescents and unaccompanied minors are often "victims of deceitful recruitment slavery".

This has a serious physical and mental impact on the victims, he warned, adding that it would have "health implications" on their families and their communities.

For example, although displaced populations have a lower risk of developing all forms of cancer, with the exception of cervical cancer, the disease is "more likely to be diagnosed at one stage of life. the report, which exposes them to "considerably worse health consequences than those of the host population".

Diabetes also affects refugees and migrants more than host communities, the WHO report says, with "higher incidence, prevalence, and mortality rates," especially among women. .

The WHO study continues, noting that this applies more particularly to unaccompanied minors, who also suffer from higher rates of post-traumatic stress, such as depression and anxiety.

According to the WHO report, migrants and refugees are more likely to contract infectious diseases due to lack of access to health care, interrupted care and poor living conditions on the move.

"I do not think that in most countries illegal migrants have access to health system services," said Dr Jakab. "So this is an area where we have to do a lot of extra work and convince countries, because the best way to protect their people and refugees is to give them access."

The WHO European Region covers 53 countries and has a total population of nearly 920 million; the proportion of international migrants varies from more than 50% in Andorra and Monaco to less than 2% in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland and Romania.

The 2030 Agenda, which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), includes rights-based health systems that consider the needs of migrants and refugees, including universal health coverage.

Of the 40 European States that responded to a WHO survey on progress in health care systems that took into account the needs of refugees and migrants, only one in two reported having done at least one needs badessment of migrants and refugees. .

"Illegal migrants are not" visible "to the authorities, so to speak," said Dr. Jakab. "They are present in the country but, officially and officially, the countries do not know that they are present in the country."

According to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the UN, the number of migrants in the world is estimated at 258 million.