1. HIV and migrant populations
General problems:
Immigration and xenophobia linked
Immigration often linked with legal ”irregularities” – poor access to health and social services
Immigration linked with secularism – cultural communication problems - counceling
Immigration linked with ”different” disease patterns compared to main population
Lisboa, Oct 2007
HIV and Migrant populations/Leinikki

2. HIV and migrant populations/2
General problems/2:
Immigration linked with ”different” disease patterns compared to main population
Inaccurate surveillance and poor knowledge about the actual dynamics of HIV within migrant communities
Poor understanding of the risk factors
Lisboa, Oct 2007
HIV and Migrant populations/Leinikki

3. Public health perspective:
Can we provide proper counceling and treatment in a cultural-sensitive way?
Do we know what is actually going on? (”hidden populations”, different groups)
Can we handle the situation among illegal immigrants? (Cave discrimination!)
How to meet societal challenges like xenophobia among the general population?
Which strategy?:
1.Integration (help in homing etc)
2. Separate services
Lisboa, Oct 2007
HIV and Migrant populations/Leinikki

4. Recommendations (to the meeting):
Better definitions, more research and information is needed to fully understand the HIV problem among non-native populations,
Legal and economic restrictions and obstacles vary from one EU-country to another, a need for ”Ombudsman” at EU level,
Emphasis should be on human rights. Access to proper cARV-treatment is a useful criterium
In training, target populations must be involved in the implementation
Lisboa, Oct 2007
HIV and Migrant populations/Leinikki

5. HIV and Migrant populations/Leinikki
A ”symbolic”
outcry from
the Northern
Europe
(E. Munch:
Outcry
Lisboa, Oct 2007
HIV and Migrant populations/Leinikki