The purpose of the Migrant and Refugee Health Partnership is to develop and promote strategies to enhance health access, experience and outcomes for migrant and refugee community. To achieve this, we support sharing of good practice and collaboration among clinicians, community, health care services, and government agencies. We provide focus both on the capacity of clinicians and health service organisations to provide culturally responsive care, as well as on the capacity of migrant and refugee communities to understand their health and navigate the healthcare system.
The Partnership’s objectives are:
The Partnership was established in 2016 as the Migrant and Refugee Women’s Health Partnership, in recognition that women from migrant and refugee backgrounds often face greater challenges in accessing health care and that their health care needs are complicated by pre migration experiences. The Partnership quickly grew into a national clinician-community collaboration to address systemic barriers to access to health care for migrants and refugees, with a focus on women as a particularly vulnerable group.
The Partnership’s key priority over the first two years was the development of the competency standards framework for clinicians in the context of cultural responsiveness and working with people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. The work of the Partnership was overseen by a Working Group with representation from 11 medical colleges, peak professional bodies for nurses and midwives, community, and government.
In early 2019, following the completion and the launch of the competency standards framework—a major milestone for the Partnership—and a strategic review, our name changed to Migrant and Refugee Health Partnership. This reflected the evolution of the Partnership’s scope since its inception, which now provides a broader focus on migrant and refugee health. Women’s health has been and will remain one the Partnership’s key priorities.
The work of the Partnership is now driven by a Council, with members representing professional bodies and community organisations, or serving as individuals with relevant experience and expertise. Secretariat support is provided by the Partnership’s auspicing body, The Social Policy Group.
