Access to health for the most vulnerable

Actions taken:

• Health is a core theme for the SRC in the domestic as well as international cooperation activities. As part of its Strategy 2020 SRC is currently implementing the encompassing strategic project “health for all” with the objectives of positioning SRC in the field of health in Switzerland and promoting equal opportunities for all people in the Swiss health system. 4 fields of action: – health services for the vulnerable, relief and care; low-threshold health counselling; support for people with mental disabilities; prevention and health promotion; Fields of action are supplemented by three cross-cutting themes: “Coordination and Cooperation”, “Strengthening Equal Opportunities and Access” and “Promoting Voluntary Work”. Existing services will be extended/optimised, new services will be promoted.

• Study on health competencies in Switzerland: the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) conducted the quantitative part of the study in 2016; the quantitative results of the study were published by the FOPH in 2016. The SRC completed the qualitative part of the study in May 2018. The qualitative results were presented and discussed on various occasions. Based on the results of the two studies on health competencies in Switzerland the FOPH and SRC will identify measures to improve the health competencies of the most vulnerable. On behalf of the FOPH, the SRC is conducting further investigations to examine individual questions in greater detail.

• Traumatised refugees: SRC is drawing attention to the under-supply in assistance for traumatised refugees and elaborated a paper defining ten measures for better health care for traumatised refugees in Switzerland. Furthermore, SRC elaborated a pilot project in favour of traumatised minor refugees. The SRC organised and participated in several events: SRC chaired a panel discussion on “Medical underprovision of traumatised refugees” at the Swiss Public Health Conference 2016; SRC organised the national symposium of the association “Support for Torture Victims”: “Psychiatric underprovision of torture and war victims in Switzerland” 2016; SRC organised the 14th National Symposium of the Swiss Red Cross: “Health – no good for the privileged” 2016.

• In 2017 the online platform www.migesplus.ch was renamed to “Portal for Equal Health Opportunities” and was thus extended to include the topic of equal health opportunities. Migesplus also became an exchange platform for experts in the field of traumatised underage refugees.

• Support and assistance services with and for migrants: SRC and especially its cantonal branches provide a variety of services in the field of assistance and support, e.g. assistance for persons nursing a sick family member, support for elderly people in their everyday life challenges, visiting lonely persons, childcare. These support and assistance services will be further developed in order to better reach migrants in their roles as possible beneficiaries of the services as well as potential volunteers.

• Interpretation in the health sector: together the FOPH and SRC advocate for the establishment of good interpretation services in the health sector in order to improve the quality of treatment for persons who do not speak one of the official languages of Switzerland. Also the question of payment of these services must be taken into account.

• Meetings: the FOPH and SRC meet once or twice a year to assess the implementation of the projects and measures identified.

Implementation completion: