Innovations and Adaptation of Global Fund Grants to Migration Realities in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
On September 19-20, 2024 a Global Fund’s event took place in Samarkand, called “Regional Working meeting on Pandemic Preparedness, Migration and Health: Innovations and Adaptation of Global Fund Grants to Migration Realities in Eastern Europe and Central Asia”.
The meeting gathered experts in Public Health and migration, including heads of Nationals TB and HIV programs, Global Fund grant implementers, technical partners, civil society groups, and community networks of EECA region. It is important to note that representatives of the HIV migrant community also took part and spoke at the event.
The aim of the two-day-meeting was to exchange experiences of existing projects of migrant access to health services in EECA region in a current context, including traditional seasonal or longer-term labor migration that is amplified by the effect of population movement due to hostilities. The meeting was also focused on how the Global Fund grants can be leveraged to facilitate access to quality TB and HIV prevention, diagnostics and treatment for migrants.
REG team presented at the session “Overcoming challenges to equitable access to HIV and TB services for migrants’’ and shared their vision on addressing the needs of key populations among migrants.
Reflecting on the meeting results Daniel Kashnitsky, REG’s Academic Research coordinator, shared:
“We welcome the recommendation from the GF meeting to include migrant-sensitive services in current GF’s applications for country financing and, if necessary, to reprogram existing grants. We also note significant calls from participants to conduct researches in order to build an evidence base and identify migrants as a key population.
The Regional Expert group on Migration and Health also welcomes the readiness of healthcare authorities in EECA countries to implement remote registration and treatment practices for citizens living abroad”