welfare during the COVID-19 crisis

Poli CY d ire C tions 125

BOX 4.4 Measures to expand migrants’ access to health care and social welfare during the COVID-19 crisis

Many countries have taken important steps to expand access to health care to migrants and refugees during the pandemic. Most European countries, within and outside the Mediterranean region, expanded health care for migrants, irrespective of their legal status, to provide free treatment in case of COVID-19 contagion. Measures were also taken to temporarily waive eligibility requirements that could limit access to health care. For instance, Portugal undertook a temporary regularization program to ensure full access to health care to undocumented migrants. Spain waived the requirement for migrants to have regular documents to qualify for basic support (OECD 2020).

Other countries in the extended Mediterranean region undertook similar efforts. For instance, Saudi Arabia provided COVID-19 testing and treatment to migrants free of charge. Similarly, Qatar has made COVIDrelated medical as well as quarantine services freely available to all (Moroz, Shrestha, and Testaverde 2020). Turkey required COVID-19 testing and provision of care for migrants regardless of legal status, though decisions to treat undocumented patients often varied between health providers or faced delays (Özvarış et al. 2020).

Still other countries have taken measures to include migrants in social protection schemes during the pandemic. Migrant workers with permits could apply for the federal stimulus payment introduced in Italy during the pandemic. France and Spain reduced the minimum duration of employment needed to access unemployment benefits. And in the Netherlands, temporary access to social funds was granted to some categories of residence permit holders who are normally not eligible (Moroz, Shrestha, and Testaverde 2020; OECD 2020).

Certain countries in the extended Mediterranean region also introduced interventions specifically targeted to refugees. During June and July 2020, additional transfers were made to refugees in Turkey through the existing cash transfer program funded by the European Union to help them cope with the negative impacts of the pandemic (IFRC and TRC 2021). In Jordan, the government together with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) provided emergency cash transfers to refugee daily-wage workers who were vulnerable to income losses because of the pandemic and lockdown measures (Hagen-Zanker and Both 2021). In Morocco, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) created a cash transfer program for refugees similar to that implemented by the government to reach those affected by COVID-19–related shocks (Hagen-Zanker and Both 2021).