Abstract
According to the Italian Ministry of the Interior, during 2016 Italy hosted more than 180,000 migrants—a combination of International Protection Seekers (IPSs) and economic migrants, with an increasing number of unaccompanied minors (26,000). Over the last few years, Italy has collected progressive and important experience in protecting the health of IPSs. The Italian Ministry of Health has recently produced and is currently implementing two sets of clinical/organisational guidelines, addressing “Health checks and protection pathways for migrants on arrival and while hosted in reception centres” and “Care, treatment and rehabilitation of psychological disorders of refugees and subsidiary protection status holders who have suffered torture, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence”. Both documents underline the importance of a multidisciplinary approach and the governance of pathways to ensure the continuity of healthcare and social protection. Mental health, infectious disease control and minors’ and women’s health protection seem to be the main public health challenges. The present situation and possible future perspectives on IPSs’ health in Italy are described and discussed in this chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
SIMM is the only national scientific network specifically aimed at protecting the health of immigrants and committed to supporting good practice in health assistance, both nationally and locally, through its Immigration and Health Groups (GrIS).
- 2.
The final recommendations, along with the full text of the document (currently only in Italian), are available at the INMP website at: http://www.inmp.it/lg/LG_Migranti-web.pdf.
- 3.
Sa.Mi.Fo.—Salute Migranti Forzati, Healthcare for Forced Migrants, an organisation collaborating with Jesuit Centro Astalli for refugees.
- 4.
These laws in fact place Italy in an “advanced” position on the international scene: in no other country in the world, as we understand it, do immigrants without a stay permit have the right to assistance without being reported to the police. Undocumented migrants have the right to receive necessary treatment, even for prolonged periods of time, free of charge if they do not have the economic resources to pay for the services.
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Marceca, M. et al. (2019). Migrants’ Health Protection: Socio-health and Legal Situation of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Italy. In: Krämer, A., Fischer, F. (eds) Refugee Migration and Health. Migration, Minorities and Modernity, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03155-8_11
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