Migration Health

With people increasingly on the move within and across borders, population mobility has increased implications for both migrants travelling, as well as those who remain behind. Migration can often make migrants more vulnerable to health risks than most. IOM facilitates the movement of refugees, migrants, voluntary returnees, stranded migrants and others in need of travel assistance. IOM ensures that people travelling under its auspices do so in a safe and dignified manner, are fit to travel, receive appropriate assistance when necessary, and do not pose a health hazard to other travelers, personnel or receiving communities.

IOM Sudan Migration Health Team provide the following services:

• United Kingdom Tuberculosis (UKTB) Screening- As part of the travel health assistance activities, IOM self-running cost program provides TB screening to UK visa applicants who intend to stay six months or more.
• Full Health Assessments and Fitness to Travel Medical Screening- IOM Sudan provides full health assessments and  fit-to-travel medical screenings for refugees resettling in a number of countries (UK, Australia, Germany, US-under USRAP, United States Refugees Admission Program- Norway, Canada, Sweden, the Netherlands, etc). Fit-to-travel medical assessments are also provided prior to departure for internally displaced persons (IDP) traveling in organized movements, and full health assessments for self-paying migrants who wish to travel.
• DNA Testing– DNA testing is conducted for family reunification for those travelling to Italy.
• Yellow Fever Vaccination- Migration Health Department is responsible for yellow fever vaccination for those travelling  to Australia and New Zealand. 

IOM Sudan’s Migration Health Department (MHD) clinic underwent an upgrade in 2015, enabling a breakthrough in the scope and scale of activities. The clinic now has the capacity to undertake full medical assessments through IOM panel physicians and has boosted the department's medical assessment capacity to 30-40 migrants per day, with new equipment and standards meeting the medical protocols of respective resettlement countries.

During 2015, 836 comprehensive Health Assessments (HA) were conducted in preparation for migrants to resettle from Sudan to Canada, Germany and the United States. MHD also conducts special services for the requirements for other countries, including resettlement, family reunification, student and other temporary or permanent travel. The most common of these services was 1,893 TB screenings under the United Kingdom Tuberculosis Program (UKTB), which requires applicants for a UK visa longer than six months to obtain a medical certificate.  In addition, IOM administered 120 Yellow Fever vaccinations for migrants traveling to Australia and New Zealand, and collected 25 DNA samples to support family reunification to Italy.

All migrants being resettled receive pre-departure medical screenings in order to assess fitness to travel. These measures also ensure that migrants are linked to and given appropriate referrals to medical services once they arrive their destination countries. In 2015, IOM issued 2,531 Fit-to-Travel clearances for the resettlement of those migrants to other countries.

Contact information

For more information, please contact: Sudan Migration Health Unit