Migrants across Europe have less control over their health particularly because they lack the skills to easily access health information. The project intends to support migrant women, adult and language educators, health practitioners, social workers and volunteers at European level by providing to them tools that have been produced with a European approach and dimension thanks to the project’s transnational nature. Migration is a challenge that all European countries are facing not only as a result of the war in Syria, but also as a result of the economic crisis and the intraregional migration which is particularly dynamic in Europe. Researchers predict that the numbers of migrants will keep growing, especially because of climate changes. We are faced with a European challenge that needs European cooperation to address the growing needs of migrants. According to the Report “Promoting the health of refugees and migrants” (WHO, 2017) women, children including unaccompanied minors, and people with disabilities – are particularly vulnerable to health problems. These individuals are at higher risk of developing communicable and noncommunicable diseases, including mental health problems. Migration and displacement can also pose specific health threats, including sexual violence, especially against women and girls. This is particularly significant, since women and girls who are refugees or migrants often face diverse sexual and reproductive health challenges and are most vulnerable to preventable mortality and morbidity arising from lack of sexual and reproductive health services. In the Annex of the above mentioned report, among the proposed priorities for the promotion of the health of refugees and migrants is to “Protect and improve the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents living in refugee and migrant settings. Priority should be given to the provision of essential health services such as: a minimum initial service package for reproductive health, sexual and reproductive health information and services; maternal health care including emergency obstetric services, pre- and postnatal care; prevention, treatment, care and support for sexually transmitted infections including HIV, and specialized care for survivors of sexual violence, as well as supporting for child health activities.” The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union states that “everyone has the right of access to preventive health care and the right to benefit from medical treatment under the conditions established by national laws and practices”. However, legal status has proved to be one of the main formal barriers to migrants' access to healthcare services, and communication and cultural differences the main informal barriers. The project "Migrant Women as Healthcare Mentors" will facilitate the access of migrant women and their children to the healthcare services of their host countries by developing innovative language learning tools related to healthcare issues. These tools will be available to adult language educators and to migrants for self-learning purposes. Moreover, a Multimedia Mentoring Guide will be created available to adult educators in order to train migrant women to act as healthcare mentors within their communities, providing useful information to their peers about the healthcare system of their host country, and promote a positive attitude towards preventive practices. In addition, healthcare providers will have access to innovative tools for their communication with migrant women that will help them through the examination process (application with medical history questionnaire translated in 15 languages, mobile app with e-vocabulary and useful phrases). It is of most importance to have tools that healthcare providers can easily use in order to communicate with women migrant patients. Such tools can safeguard the confidentiality of information shared between the doctors and the patients as migrants often tend to use other relatives, friends, even their children as interpreters. General Objectives To support the social inclusion and integration of migrant women To raise awareness of the healthcare and educational needs of this disadvantaged group To disseminate widely the idea of the project and its results at national and European level Specific Objectives To supply high quality learning opportunities tailored to the needs of migrant women via OER To train migrant women to act as healthcare mentors within their communities To facilitate the access of women migrants to the healthcare services of their host countries by providing specific information for the healthcare system in partners’ countries To support adult and language educators by extending and developing their competences through the effective use of ICT To support healthcare providers in their work with migrant women To organise National and European Conferences to spread the project's products and results
Medice project ´´ Migrant Women as Healthcare Mentors´´ is a joint effort at European level between UK, Cyprus, Iceland, Czech Republic and Poland to supports migrant women by providing to them innovative tools to obtain the equality and participation. Furthermore, to foster an open mind-set of adult and language educators, health practitioners, social workers and volunteers by offering tools based on needs of migrants. Migrants across Europe have less control over their health particularly because they lack the skills to easily access health information. Researchers predict that the numbers of migrants will keep growing, especially because of climate changes. We are faced with a European challenge that needs European cooperation to address the growing needs of migrants. Health is one of the most essential aspect of migrants´ everyday life and closely interrelated with education and employment. All three aspects should be taken into account when fostering successful integration. According to the Report “Promoting the health of refugees and migrants” (WHO, 2017) women, children including unaccompanied minors, and people with disabilities – are particularly vulnerable to health problems. Health literacy is an important determinant of health. Strong health literacy enables migrants to develop the skills and confidence to make informed decisions about their health and the health of their families. Main objectives of the project was to support the social inclusion and integration of migrants, raise awareness of the healthcare and educational needs of this disadvantaged group and disseminate widely the idea of the project and its results at national and European level. Actions were taken towards two target groups. On one hand, to develop high quality learning opportunities tailored to the needs of migrant women and train them to act as healthcare mentors within their communities. On the other hand, to support adult and language educators by extending and developing their competences through the effective use of ICT. All tools developed promotes also communication between healthcare providers and migrants as service users. Two main target groups, namely migrant women and host country language teachers were directly involved throughout the project life-cycle. Over 237 participants together took part in short-term training in Lodz, Poland, piloting workshops, multiplier events in October 2020 and reference groups participating actively by contributing with their knowledge and feedback. Healthcare providers validated the healthcare subjects, words and phrases included in outputs. Migrant women sheared their feedback on the healthcare areas selected, the content and the visual elements of the material. Got involved in the translations and testing of Medice Multimedia Mentoring Guide. Language educators provided their feedback on the visual elements and the graphic design of the material ensuring that it will be attractive, engaging to learning and easy to use both by teachers and learners. Language educators also participated at the training on February 2020, Lodz, Poland. Adult educators were involved in the creation the guide of the providing their feedback about the content and the media used for its production. More than 19 associated partners were involved to contribute to the implementation of project objectives and tasks, dissemination and sustainability. Over 250 individuals were directly approached via various dissemination activities. Short term training for language educators brought 11 participants from 5 countries. Reference group for project outputs consisted of 22 migrants and health professionals together. Online and F2F multiplier event workshops took place in 5 partner countries and brought together 228 participants, including policy makers and academics. Medice intellectual outputs present the most relevant tangible products developed during the project life. First four outputs provide educational tools: - in five partner languages English, Greek, Icelandic, Polish and Czech - with key terminology in Afrikaans, Arabic, Armenian, French, German, Lithuanian, Russian, Thai, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese and audio-video files in partner languages. Healthcare system e-map of Iceland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Poland and the UK Description of health care system in each partner country under 8 categories including key terminology and links to obtain additional information of particular issue. E-glossary Language tool with 11 categories to facilitate migrant women in their learning of the host country language in relation to health issues. Data base provides over 500 words in easy, fast and user-friendly content. This output includes also a guide on the specificity of each 10 migrant languages as well as a mini guide to help users to navigate through the tool in the best possible way. Women Healthcare Multi-language Package Comprises 7 categories covering areas of women's health, diseases and lifestyle. Each category contains the phraseology required by the circumstance, from describing symptoms to the request of explanations of medical procedures and treatments and marked with 80 key words in partners´ languages and translated into 10 migrant languages along with audio pronunciation in partner languages and video- face expression to provide important contextual information when learning host country language. Infant and Child Healthcare Multi-language Package Provides a set of expressions, multi-word lexical units, and typical sentences related to the children's healthcare issues under 5 categories. Contains the phraseology required by the circumstance, from describing symptoms to the request of explanations of medical procedures and treatments and marked with 52 key words in 5 partner languages and translated into 10 migrant languages along with audio pronunciation in partner languages and video- face expression to provide important contextual information when learning host country language. Multimedia Mentoring Guide The Guide presents a series of modules for training migrant women to act as healthcare mentors within their communities. The innovative mentoring guide serves both as educational material to improve health literacy and as language aid for migrant women with low literacy. Units 1 consists of specific modules how to use the project outputs for face to face/blended teaching and for self-learning purposes, but also on how to empower migrant women in becoming informed and conscious users of healthcare system of the their host countries. Unite 2 consists of introduction and four modules with training designed for migrant women on mentoring and couching skills; on how to inspire their peers in believing in themselves and boost their self-esteem, confidence and psychological resilience; on skills to address anxiety and stress and share stress management techniques with their peers; and on practical advices on how they can support as mentors migrant women victims of violence. The Guide contains audio-visual and video materials, self-assessment tools and useful links and has been translated in 5 partners’ languages. Partnership used face –to-face approach, easy language, pictures, charts and developed 2-3 creative exercises in each module. Mobile App The project provides a Mobile App that has been designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone or a tablet. All the essential products created in the project previous stages are available on Medice App. The project online platform systematically catalogues 4 multimedia resources in 15 languages, the ‘Healthcare system e-map of Iceland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Poland and the UK', the 'e-Glossary', the 'Women Healthcare Multilanguage Package', the Infant and Child Healthcare Multi language Package’ and 1 resource in 5 languages, the 'Migrant Women Mentoring Guide'. Empowering migrants to help themselves by providing efficient tools to obtain their rights benefits not only to the migrants´ wellbeing but also to society as a whole.