Public Health Contingency Plan for migrants

The project

The Public Health Contingency Plan for migrants represents a multi-level and multi-stakeholder coordinated approach to the health sector of Sicily addressing migrant management and needs.  It defines the operational guidelines to coordinate the public health aspects related to the migration flow response, describing all the actions to put in place, from the rescue at sea and disembarkation phase, to the reception one. It clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the main stakeholders involved in the rescue and reception of migrants and refugees at national, regional and local level, so as to strengthen the organizational aspects, ensure an efficient management of the situation considering the resources available and assure the response to the health needs of the vulnerable groups arriving in the region. It also developed a detailed information flows among the parties between local and central level.  

As said, the contingency plan is an inter-sectorial intervention, which operates through the action of different agencies and professional profiles. The intervention of the different stakeholders involved is coordinated by various levels of responsibility. The actors involved in the implementation of the Plan are representatives of National Authorities (MoH, Regional and Local Health Authority of Sicily, USMAF) and Non-profit organizations (Italian Red Cross, Emergency, MSF), which interact according to the guidelines stated in the operational plan.   

The Plan is the first of its kind and was built according to the specific Sicilian context, outlining a programmatic approach to the management of migration flows. However, the model could be applied to different context, such as other Italian Region or other EU countries, after its remodeling according to the specific context and the resources available. Moreover, the interventions target the main health services for migrants, with special attention to women health services and pediatric ones. 

The impact of the good practice

The Sicilian Region cooperated with WHO in the creation of the Health Contingency Plan, whose objective is to improve the impact on migrants and refugees’ health, on the health professionals and consequently on the whole population. This has contributed to the creation of a more systematic approach to respond to the migration flow, which resulted in a structured and comprehensive response, and not an emergency one. 

Through the plan, roles and responsibilities in the management of the phenomenon were identified, together with strategic figures to ensure efficient and coordinated management of resources; in addition, the coordination among health and non-health actors in the territory was enhanced, improving the health governance. 

The initial phase identified the different phases of the migration process (from the disembarkation to the reception centers), and this contributed to defining roles and responsibilities of the actors, provided a harmonized response, and by doing so enhanced the capacity of the Sicily region to face the emerging needs.