• Background •

Migration, ethno-cultural diversity, health and health care are closely interlinked in many ways. Due to worldwide migration, globalisation and also European enlargement, communities in Europe are becoming more and more diverse on the local level as well. The health status of migrants and ethnic minority groups is often worse than that of the average population. These groups are more vulnerable, due to their lower socio-economic status, and sometimes because of traumatic migration experiences and lack of adequate social support. Minority groups are at risk of not receiving the same level of health care in diagnosis, treatment and preventive services that the average population receives. Health care services are not responsive enough to the specific needs of minorities.

Therefore, increasing diversity is an important issue for health systems and services. Many of the related problems are facing both service users and providers. Examples include not only language barriers and cultural diversity, but also scarcities in hospital resources and low levels of minority purchasing power and entitlements. All this poses new challenges for professionals, for management and for quality assurance and improvement in health services – especially for hospitals which play a particularly important role in serving this segment of the population.

• Literature review >>

• Project Summary •
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