The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNHCR , UNITED NATIONS
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: Refugee Health Workers COVID-19 Latin America - UNHCR
Refugee health workers step up for coronavirus response in Latin America
As an increase COVID-19 cases mount pressure on already over-stretched health systems in Latin America, countries across the region are planning to rely on refugee and migrant health workers to support their national responses to COVID-19.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is supporting efforts that tap into the skills and resources that refugee medics can provide.
“Several countries in the region are now putting in place special measures. These authorize the hiring of foreign-qualified health professionals and technicians, including those awaiting licensing or whose certification is yet to be validated by host countries,” said Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) at a press briefing in Geneva . “Other states have adopted expedited recognition processes to fast-track their inclusion in national health responses”.
Across Latin America, thousands of refugees are already working with national health systems in the pandemic response, while many more stand ready to give back to the communities sheltering them.
Peru has now authorized the hiring of foreign certified health professionals -- of any nationality -- to support the COVID-19 response. Argentina and Chile have approved the hiring of health professionals whose qualifications have not yet been validated by national authorities.
“With a number of refugees studying medicine on government-supported scholarships in Cuba, refugee students in their third year of medical school or above are now also able to join the emergency response”, UNHCR’s Shabia Mantoo said. “In Brazil, Cuban doctors have also been exceptionally authorized to work on national health responses across the country”.
In Colombia, the Ministry of Health is collaborating with the Association of Health Professionals to draw in Venezuelan health workers.
“Networks of foreign health professionals are also being formed across the region to offer their knowledge and experience in support of their host countries,” Ms. Mantoo said. “Through its contact with refugee and asylum seeker communities, UNHCR is aware of thousands of forcibly displaced health workers who have expressed their willingness to work alongside their peers in the COVID-19 response” she added.
UNHCR has been supporting refugee inclusion efforts to help with the Covid-19 response in Latin America and around the world. In Mexico, UNHCR works with federal authorities to establish an expedited mechanism for the recognition of qualified and experienced refugee and asylum seeker health workers to join the country’s emergency recruitment pool.
“Latin America has shown deep generosity in the face of an unprecedented forced displacement crisis in Venezuela that has impacted nearly every country in the region”, UNHCR’s Shabia Mantoo said. “The coronavirus pandemic is now compounding an already desperate situation for many refugees and their hosts”.
The UN Refugee Agency continues to advocate for the inclusion of refugees in national health systems, in the belief that this will help not only to protect the rights of refugees but will also serve to protect public health by halting the global spread of COVID-19.
- Wide shot: exterior, Place des Nations, Geneva, with Geneva lake
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Shabia Mantoo, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “Several countries in the region are now putting in place special measures. These authorize the hiring of foreign-qualified health professionals and technicians, including those who are awaiting licensing or whose certification is yet to be validated by host countries. Other states have adopted expedited recognition processes to fast-track their inclusion in national health responses”.
- Wide shot: UN Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (EN) - Shabia Mantoo, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “With a number of refugees studying medicine on government-supported scholarships in Cuba, refugee students in their third year of medical school or above are now also able to join the emergency response. In Brazil, Cuban doctors have also been exceptionally authorized to work on national health responses across the country”.
- Wide shot: UN Place de Nations with broken chair
- SOUNDBITE (EN) - Shabia Mantoo, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “Networks of foreign health professionals are also being formed across the region to offer their knowledge and support and experience for their host countries. Through its contact with refugee and asylum seeker communities, UNHCR is aware of thousands of forcibly displaced health workers who are expressing their willingness to work alongside their peers in the COVID-19 response”.
- Zoom out: UN building, Entrance Pregny
- SOUNDBITE (EN) - Shabia Mantoo, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “Latin America has shown deep generosity in the face of an unprecedented forced displacement crisis in Venezuela that has impacted nearly every country in the region. The coronavirus pandemic is now compounding an already desperate situation for many refugees and their hosts”.
- Wide shot: UN Place de Nations with broken chair
- Wide shot: UN Place de Nations with broken chair
Similar Stories
1
1
2
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Aid is surging into Gaza “at scale” in line with the ceasefire agreement that has seen Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners released and families reunited, but massive needs remain across the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
2
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO , OCHA , WMO
UN regrets US exit from global cooperation on health, climate change
UN agencies reacted with regret on Tuesday to the United States’ decisions to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
'Cabrini' film lead and Gomorrah star Cristiana Dell’Anna travelled to Geneva on Friday to highlight the age-old dangers confronting migrants – and the astonishing Italian missionary who travelled to New York City's slums at the turn of the last century, determined to protect them.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN warns of escalating danger for Sudanese civilians amid ethnic violence and war crimes.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO
UN health agency says 500 to 600 aid trucks a day could reach Gaza once ceasefire begins
Amid media reports that Israel’s Security Cabinet recommended the approval of a Gaza ceasefire on Friday, humanitarian aid agencies prepared to expand the flow of humanitarian aid assistance to Palestinians in the territory, devastated by 15 months of war.
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | OCHA , UNHCR
UN stands with people of Ukraine for the long term insists UN aid chief at humanitarian appeal launch in Kyiv
The embattled people of Ukraine and those forced abroad need $3.32 billion in lifesaving and sustained humanitarian assistance to help them cope as a fourth year of war looms after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, UN aid chiefs said on Thursday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Syria: Tragedy ‘at every step’ as millions of children face landmine threat – UNICEF
In Syria, landmines and other explosives left over from years of conflict present an ever more lethal threat to children, accounting for over 100 child deaths and injuries last month alone, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO , WHO
LA wildfires: Climate change made the disaster worse says WMO
The powerful dry winds and tinderbox conditions that have been fuelling the continuing Los Angeles wildfire tragedy have been made worse by climate change, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif on Wednesday updated the Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in Ukraine, outlining the findings of OHCHR’s latest periodic report covering 1st September to 30th November 2024.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“We are deeply troubled by the marked increase in executions in Iran last year. At least 901 people were reportedly executed in 2024, including some 40 in one week alone in December. At least 853 people were executed in 2023,” Liz Throssell, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the UN bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Avian flu risk still ‘low’ after first US patient dies – WHO
A day after the United States reported its first human death from avian flu, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) insisted that the risk to the general population remains “low”.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The appointment on Thursday of Karla Quintana as head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic is a key development after nearly a year and a half of work by the UN Human Rights Office supporting the institution’s launch.