Refugee and Migrant Health:
Global Competency Standards for Health Workers
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Background
The WHO Global Competency Standards for Refugee and Migrant Health were developed by the World Health Organization to promote culturally sensitive, high-quality healthcare for refugees and migrants worldwide. These standards support universal health coverage — ensuring no one is left behind — and can be applied across diverse healthcare settings with flexibility to adapt to specific country contexts.
Following the development and launch of these standards, WHO promotes them at global, regional, and country level by designing competency-based training courses and delivering them to health workers in countries affected by displacement. Kenya — home to two of Africa’s largest refugee camps — is a priority country for this work.
The Training Programme
The Kenya delivery consists of four three-day competency-based trainings, run as two consecutive rounds simultaneously at two sites — Training A in Dadaab and Training B in Kakuma — reaching approximately 35 participants per session.
The Five WHO Competency Domains
The entire programme is structured around the five domains of the WHO Global Competency Standards. Every case study, exercise, and facilitated discussion is anchored in one or more of these domains:
Methodology
The training uses a participatory, competency-based methodology specifically designed for frontline health workers in complex humanitarian settings.
Thematic Focus: NCDs and Mental Health
Non-communicable diseases and mental health are a required thematic priority woven across all five domains for this Kenya delivery, reflecting the parallel WHO Health and Migration NCD programme under way in the country.
Competency Assessment and Follow-Up
PHIG, in collaboration with the WHO Special Initiative for Health and Migration, is conducting a longitudinal competency assessment study alongside this training programme. Every participant completes a structured assessment at three timepoints:
Post-Training — measures immediate learning gains across all five domains
Every 6 months — tracks whether gains are sustained and translate into real practice change
Complete the competency questionnaire online — before training, after training, or at any 6-month follow-up point.
From the Field
Training updates and field reports from Dadaab, Kakuma, and Garissa.
Health for all, including refugees and migrants: time to act now
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus · 21 September 2022
Many countries do have health policies that include health services for refugees and migrants but too many are either ineffective or are yet to be implemented effectively. The WHO World Report on the Health of Refugees and Migrants is a landmark and an alarm bell — it provides a comprehensive overview of refugee and migrant health, demonstrating wide disparities between the health of refugees and migrants and the wider populations in their host countries.
WHO Publications & Resources
Key WHO publications underpinning this training programme. Open access — free to download.
WHO Consultant, Health and Migration Programme, supporting the implementation of the WHO Global Competency Standards for Refugee and Migrant Health at country, regional and global levels, including competency-based training for policymakers, managers, healthcare providers and health mediators through onsite, blended and online delivery.
Country level: Nigeria · Senegal · Mali · Niger · Romania · Kenya/Garissa
Regional level — Riga, Latvia: participants from Latvia · Lithuania · Estonia · Poland · Romania · Bulgaria · Republic of Moldova
Global level — Rome, Italy: participants from Iraq · Jordan · Egypt · Kenya · Uganda · Estonia · Italy
WHO EMRO technical support: pilot training implementation in Jordan · Tunisia · Libya · Iraq
OpenWHO: 2,254 learners from 113 countries · 1,717 engaged learners · 49,337 learning-item visits · 3,959 video plays · 2,066 downloads · 444 forum posts · 574 certificates issued.
WHO Academy: 666 enrolments · 167 completions.
Track your competency
before, during and after training
Complete the WHO-aligned competency questionnaire at Pre-Training, Post-Training, 6-month and 12-month follow-up points. Your responses are confidential.
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