“This adds value to our research and education”
The Head of the Centre, Soorej Jose Puthoopparambil, explains that the purpose of the collaboration is to support the WHO in achieving its goals of promoting global health. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt
The Global Health and Migration unit at the Department of Women's and Children's Health has been given a renewed mandate as the WHO Collaborating Centre on Migration and Health Data and Evidence. We asked Soorej Jose Puthoopparambil, Head of the Centre, a few questions.
What does this mean to you?
“The re-designation is reconfirmation from the WHO that the expertise we possess at the collaborating centre, and Uppsala University at large, is of great relevance and vital to push forward the WHO’s global health agenda within refugee and migrant health. For us at the WHO centre, it gives us a great opportunity to take part in evidence-informed development of policy and practice, an arena that many researchers do not get a chance to interact with. This adds value not only to the research and collaboration we undertake at the University, but also to the education that we provide.”
What is the purpose of the centre?
“The purpose of the collaboration is to support the WHO to achieve its regional and global goals in promoting global health – refugee and migrant health, in the case of our collaborating centre in Uppsala. Our centre will focus particularly on improving the generation and availability of data and evidence on refugee and migrant heath globally and regionally.”
What have you achieved so far?
“The centre has been in operation since September 2021 supporting the WHO in many of its key initiatives in promoting refugee and migrant health. Some of those include providing technical guidance in developing the first WHO global report on refugee and migrant health, developing an implementation guide to address health challenges in immigration detention. On behalf of the WHO, we have also conducted regular international training sessions on various topics.”
What are your plans now in your continued work?
“We will further strengthen our collaboration with the WHO through technical support. One of the key activities during the new designation period (2025–2029) will be to support the WHO in implementing its global action plan and the regional action plan. The centre will provide support in monitoring the implementation of the action plans. Additionally, the centre will also support the WHO to develop and implement its research agenda for refugee and migrant health. A major part of the collaboration will be focused on supporting the WHO and its member states to routinely collect, analyse and disseminate migration and health data by developing tools and conducting training.”
Åsa Malmberg