What Does ECDC Recommend for Tailoring Models of Care for Migrant Populations?

Updated

ECDC's evidence brief on tailoring models of care for migrant populations focuses on removing barriers to timely diagnosis and continuous care, specifically for HIV, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis (TB) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The brief highlights good practices to improve testing, linkage to and retention in care. It is aimed at people designing or delivering health services for migrant populations in the EU/EEA, and at anyone who needs to understand what ECDC has identified as workable approaches.

Why migrant populations need tailored models of care

According to ECDC, migrant populations often face barriers to timely diagnosis and continuous care. That framing matters: the problem is not only whether services exist, but whether people can reach them early enough and stay engaged with them over time.

For the four disease areas covered — HIV, viral hepatitis, TB and STIs — late or interrupted care has consequences both for the individual and for wider transmission. A care model that works for a settled population may fail for people who move frequently, face language or administrative obstacles, or have limited contact with formal health systems.

What the evidence brief covers

The brief is organised around three connected stages of the care pathway:

  • Testing — improving how and where people are offered testing, so that diagnosis happens earlier.
  • Linkage to care — making sure a positive or reactive result leads promptly into the right service.
  • Retention in care — keeping people engaged in continuous care rather than losing them after the first contact.

ECDC describes these as areas where good practices can be identified and shared, rather than prescribing a single model for all countries.

How to use this in practice

If you are designing or reviewing a service, the brief is most useful as a source of transferable practices rather than a fixed protocol. A practical way to work with it:

  1. Identify which of the three stages — testing, linkage, retention — is weakest in your setting.
  2. Look at the good practices ECDC highlights for that stage.
  3. Check whether the conditions that made a practice work elsewhere (outreach setting, community involvement, referral pathways) also apply to your context.
  4. Treat the brief as evidence to inform a local decision, not as a substitute for it.

Where to find the brief

The evidence brief is published on the ECDC website (ecdc.europa.eu) as one of its publications. From the homepage, the item appears under the feature "Tailoring models of care for migrant populations," with a link to read the report. ECDC's publications section is the reliable route to the full document and to related outputs.

What this brief is and is not

It is an evidence product: it summarises good practices and points to what has worked. It is not a set of binding recommendations for every EU/EEA country, and it does not replace national guidance. For the current content, scope and any updates, read the brief itself on the ECDC site rather than relying on summaries.