[What do we talk about when we talk about immigrant's health in Europe? Considerations from the 2nd Conference of Migrant Health in Europe]. / Di cosa si parla quando si parla di salute degli immigrati in Europa? Considerazioni dalla 2" Conferenza sulla Salute dei Migranti in Europa.

ABSTRACT

The present contribution aims to highlight the trends in current research at a European level with regard to immigrant's health. With this aim we analyzed the Abstract Book contributions of the "2nd Conference of Migrant Health in Europe" organized in Malmö, Sweden (May 2008), by the 'Migrant Health' section of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA). The analysis of these abstracts permitted to identify the major tipping points and challenges connected with immigration phenomenon in health care systems in hosts countries. In the 141 abstracts, the most discussed issues were 'Inequalities' (22.6%), 'Maternal child and sexual reproductive health' (14.5%), 'Mental health' (11.3%) and 'Life style and chronic diseases' (10.9%). Further analysis of Inequalities category shows that the most discussed level was maternal-child, with particular reference to pre-birth child health among immigrants and mixed relationship. These studies confirmed inequalities in most cases (68%). Health inequalities between immigrant and native population in maternal child field appeared to be the most discussed issue with regard to immigrant's health in Europe. Juridical differences related to the possibility of obtaining citizenship between ius soli (in force in the majority of European countries) and ius sanguinis (in force in Italy), could probably explain the importance of this research-line.