The problem addressed by the project Partners for Health - Phase II - A pilot action to combat discrimination against immigrants in health care is represented by the imperfect interaction between the health care system and migrant patients.
On the basis of the investigations and activities carried out within the previous projects, the group of partners engaged in this pilot action came to the conclusion that discrimination against migrants in the health care system existed and had effects and consequences. Its domain is in personal behaviours and practices, rather than in legislation, laws and codes. For these reasons, the "interaction" between the health care system and migrant users has been selected has the field of investigation of the project, in order to be able to develop the right instruments and strategies to combat discrimination.
The word "interaction" has been chosen to define not just the sphere of verbal communication, but a broader and complex process involving the health care system as a whole (from health care medical and paramedical professionals, down to registration desk personnel), and migrant patients (both as individuals and communities). Medical doctors and migrant patients belong indeed to different cultural backgrounds and often do not have the means to reach a mutual understanding. Approaches to health, illness, treatment and the fruition of health care services differ deeply according to the specific culture. Health care professionals have the tendency to adopt a standardised attitude toward patients. In most cases the patients' language difficulties, different behaviour, different conceptualisation of illness and listing of symptoms are considered as obstacles that cannot be overcome. Health care professionals reinterpret and select the given information, and this further step of the process may have serious consequences on the patient's diagnosis.
On the other hand, migrant patients often find it difficult to move within the bureaucracy of the health care system. Administrative procedures (administration, time schedules, appointments, etc.) are often too complicated and the system may sometimes be hard to understand. Bureaucratic procedures are often constraints.
As a matter of fact, during their work the project partners realised that such situation has serious consequences, like discontinuity in treatments and use of health care services, and drop outs that negatively affects people's health conditions.
The effect is difference in health care treatment and fruition, compared with natives and, ultimately, discrimination.

The pilot action aimed at gaining an in-depth knowledge of the issue of discrimination, in order to draft a European definition of discrimination and create a map of its size, impact and effects within health care systems. In order to do so, it was necessary to identify and define the indicators and analytical and interpretative frameworks in order to point out discrimination in health care systems, at a European level.
These objectives and the relevant activities aim at reducing discrimination against migrants in the health care field and contributing to remove the main barriers to a positive interaction between the health care system and migrant patients, that lead to unequal access to services and, ultimately, to discrimination.

The most remarkable results of the project Partners for Health are interpretative frameworks and tools to identify, locate and measure discrimination in health care services, that will be available for anybody engaged in fighting discrimination. For more information, see the research report and the links ….