Department

Public Policy Hub

Description or Abstract

The growing number of vulnerable migrants and refugees worldwide presents a significant challenge to host countries, particularly in terms of accessing healthcare services. Egypt hosts over 9 million migrants and refugees, with 1.5 million in a vulnerable situation. Despite the country’s efforts in providing adequate healthcare to these vulnerable groups, some challenges persist. This paper addresses the barriers that vulnerable migrants and refugees face when seeking secondary and tertiary healthcare services in Egypt, analyzing the legal, economic, social, and health system factors that contribute to this problem.

In 2018, the Egyptian government began an ambitious journey to reform its healthcare system to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. The reform aims to address fragmentation, improve access to high-quality care, and provide financial protection against catastrophic and impoverishing health expenditure for the entire population. While the Egyptian government has taken steps to include migrants and refugees in the national health policy framework, notably through the Universal Health Insurance Scheme (UHIS), implementation gaps persist.

This study uses qualitative research methods, including stakeholder interviews and focus group discussions, to gather in-depth perspectives on the challenges and opportunities related to enhancing healthcare access for migrants and refugees. The analysis was guided by the WHO’s six building blocks framework, which includes leadership and governance, health financing, access to medical products, service delivery, health workforce, and health information systems. The findings reveal that despite multiple efforts by different actors, there are gaps in some areas.


This paper proposes three policy alternatives, covering short- to long-term implementation timeframes, to address these challenges. In the short term, two options are proposed: the introduction of a microinsurance scheme and the establishment of a joint fund to support health service delivery. In the long term, the paper advocates for the full integration of refugees and migrants in the UHIS on par with Egyptian citizens. These alternatives are evaluated against a set of criteria, including financial viability, political feasibility, technical capacity, and equity consideration. The analysis concludes that while all three policy options present viable pathways to improve healthcare access for migrants and refugees, the integration into the universal health insurance system constitutes the most impactful and sustainable intervention.

Keywords

Health, Healthcare, Migration, Migrants, Refugees, Egypt, Policy Hub, access

Faculty Advisor

Magdy El-Sanady

Content Type

Other

Extent

42

Language

eng

Publisher

The Public Policy Hub, GAPP School

Publisher Location

The American University in Cairo

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