Migrant-Friendly Hospitals

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• European Recommendations: The Amsterdam Declaration Towards Migrant Friendly Hospitals in an ethno-culturally diverse Europe •

The main event of the conference was the launch of the Amsterdam Declaration, jointly developed by the partners of the MFH project.

The document starts with a summary analysis of the current situation of hospital services for migrants and ethnic minorities in Europe, highlighting quality-related problems for patients and staff. It assumes that improving quality for migrants and ethnic minorities as specific vulnerable groups would also serve the general interest of all patients in more personalised services. This is an issue high on the agenda of the Health Promoting Hospital network. So improvements could be achieved for all by making hospitals more responsive to ethnic, cultural and other social differences of patients and staff. In the second part of the Amsterdam Declaration, recommendations are made for specific contributions to quality improvement by hospital management and staff, by health policy, by patient organisations and the health sciences.

The declaration has been endorsed by a large number of European and international organisations, representatives of which presented their perspectives on the Amsterdam Declaration at the conference: the European Commission, DG Health and Consumer Protection, WHO Centre for Integrated Care (WHO), International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Organisation for Migration (IOM), International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations (IAPO), Standing Committee of the Hospitals of the EU (HOPE), International Union of Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE), Migrants Rights International, United for Intercultural Action, PaceMaker in Global Health. Partners expressed their expectation that the Amsterdam Declaration will serve as a European platform for improving hospital and health care services for migrants and ethnic minorities.

The final text will be available in this report in eleven European languages (Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish).

• The Amsterdam Declaration (in Danish) •
[pdf, 535 KB]