Fact 5: Health status
Refugees and migrants are likely to be healthy in general.
However, they can be at risk of ill health in transit or in destination countries due to, for example, poor living conditions and changes in lifestyle.
Migration functions as a social determinant of health. The health status of refugees and migrants is shaped by their surrounding conditions in their place of origin, during transit and in host communities. The particular conditions refugees and migrants often experience, such as restrictive migration policies, issues related to legal status, economic hardship and antimigrant sentiments, increase health inequities for them.
These 10 facts summarize key issues on refugee and migrant health in the WHO European Region.
