World Health Organization (WHO) Europe branch launched an event on health and migration to discuss strategic priorities for health and migration beyond 2022 in Istanbul Thursday. Health ministers and representatives from 53 member states of the organization participated in the event.

In a video message to the meeting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that the pandemic has again exposed the global system's injustices and flaws.

"We hope that inequalities in the global system, particularly in health and security, can be eliminated as soon as possible," Erdoğan said in his message. "For a more peaceful, more stable, and fairer world, it's clear we need to learn from our mistakes," he added. "It's impossible to achieve sustainable development goals and universal health coverage in a world that ignores the health of refugees and migrants," he stressed, adding that he values the WHO's efforts to develop a new action plan on migration and health in the European region. "I hope this meeting, which is taking place in an environment where 3 million people have been added to the 85 million refugees in only three weeks, will pave the way for fresh ideas and new solution proposals," Erdoğan said.

Noting that the pandemic has had a "more devastating impact" on vulnerable groups, particularly refugees and irregular migrants, he said: "Refugees' access to basic health care services, which is severely limited in many countries, has unfortunately been hampered in this process."

Erdoğan underlined that Turkey has never hesitated to "share all means at its disposal with those in need while providing high-quality health care services to its citizens." "During the darkest days of the pandemic, we provided medical equipment and critical material support to 160 countries and 12 international organizations that requested assistance from us," he said.

Turkey has provided 3.1 million inpatient treatment services to its "Syrian brothers and sisters," as well as 96.7 million outpatient services through its health care facilities, he said.

"We have performed 2.6 million surgeries and administered a total of 8.7 million vaccine doses in our hospitals under our national vaccination rollout scheme," he said, noting the establishment of 185 migrant health centers in 29 of the country's 81 provinces.

"We're gradually delivering the 15 million doses of vaccines pledged during the third Turkey-Africa partnership summit to our African brothers and sisters," he added. "Meanwhile, we are trying to meet demands for our domestic vaccine, Turkovac, as much as we can," he added.

Speaking at the same meeting, Health Minister Fahrretin Koca expressed his pleasure at the meeting being held in Turkey, the country hosting the largest number of refugees globally, according to the United Nations. He stressed the need to increase cooperation on the health needs of migrants. "This problem is a problem for all of us. Common problems require common solutions," Koca said. "Today, this burden carried by some countries is essentially a conscientious burden for all of us, for all of humanity. The way to deal with problems is to analyze the causes well." Koca added that it was "among our primary duties to increase our cooperation" on migrants' health needs and "follow a common path" regardless of whether a nation is a transit or destination country.

For his part, Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, praised Turkey for its work in refugee health care and said it led them to choose Turkey "for non-discriminatory provision of health services to all refugees, not only Syrians." Kluge said their meeting aimed to build a new vision for refugee health and turn the migration issue into an opportunity rather than a pressure on host societies. Kluge highlighted that without considering migrant health, it was impossible to achieve sustainable development goals.

Margaritis Schinas, European Union commissioner for Promoting the European Way of Life, says they faced a new health crisis with the war in Ukraine and a new flow of migrants to the European Union area in a video link to the event.

"European Union took measures against under these unprecedented circumstances and we are trying to support those fleeing the war. We are working for unconditional, immediate residence for them, for their access to employment," he said. Schinas highlighted that migrant health once again came to the fore with the war in Ukraine. "How do people continue staying there while hospitals are bombed?" he said. Schinas emphasized the need for continued international support and solidarity, noting demands for the opening of humanitarian corridors by WHO. He said that the world should be aware of the health care needs of millions of "frail" migrants./aa