Mapping data on migrants and medicine

Abstract

Migration is a social determinant of health, and migrants often face health inequalities compared to host populations. Migrants are underrepresented in health research in many European countries, including Belgium, which is concerning. The World Health Organization (WHO) presented a framework for migration and health research in the WHO European Region as part of its remit to support evidence-based decision-making in its member states in Europe. This framework was designed as a starting point for debating and analysing a broad range of options and approaches to help inform a WHO global research agenda on migration and health. The framework offers several recommendations for research. One of these recommendations calls on researchers to “maximise the use of existing data from research and routinely collected data in health information systems”.

The overarching aim of our Datahub initiative is to map available sources of datasets  about access to and use of medicines among migrant populations, and test if and under which conditions they can be used in research, by taking the case of Flanders, Belgium. This initiative will involve conducting a desk review to map datasets used for reporting access to and use of medicines among migrants, followed by a qualitative study with key informants; a structured analysis of ethical and legal challenges to be addressed when using the datasets we identified for research; and content description and evaluation of the different identified datasets.

We assert that the results of our initiative will help presenting the diverse sources of data about medicines access or use among migrant populations. They will be also used to provide recommendations about enhancing the possibilities of retrieving, and using data, including recommendations for (legal, ethical, methodological) risk mitigation for retrieving and using these data.

Details

• Ongoing initiative