Work

473 Individualized screening of infectious diseases and female genital mutilation in the migrant population: Adapting clinical practice guidelines to the primary care context

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: PTH 7: Health Policy and Health Services 2, B308 (FCSH), September 5, 2025, 11:30 - 12:24 Aim We aimed to adapt screening recommendations for infectious diseases(ID)?and female genital mutilation(FGM) for migrants in?primary?care settings of two Spanish regions, Catalonia and Almería. Methods We followed a modified version of the ADAPTE framework. A literature review of clinical guidelines on ID and FGM screening at national and international levels was conducted. Two multidisciplinary teams of experts participated in independent consensus workshops, one at each site, where they agreed on the conditions and the criteria for the adapted screening recommendations. A questionnaire sent to the experts evaluated their level of agreement. Results Participants at both sites defined a target migrant population, including Africans, Latin Americans, Asians, and Eastern Europeans. They agreed to include human immunodeficiency virus(HIV), hepatitis B(HBV) and C virus(HCV), active tuberculosis(TB), schistosomiasis, strongyloidiasis, Chagas disease(CD) and FGM in the recommendations. In Almería, participants also included syphilis, latent TB, and intestinal parasites. Participants in both regions agreed to test for HBV in migrants from countries with an HBV-prevalence >2%, active TB in newly-arrived migrants (<5years) from countries with a TB-incidence >50 cases/100,000population, and schistosomiasis, strongyloidiasis and FGM in migrants from endemic areas. In Catalonia, participants agreed to test for HIV and HCV if the prevalence was >1% and >2%, respectively, and for CD in migrants from endemic countries. In contrast, participants in Almería agreed to test all migrants for HIV, HCV, and syphilis, and women of child-bearing age from endemic countries for CD. The recommendation for latent TB targeted migrants aged 16-35 years from countries with a TB-incidence >50 cases/100,000population, and the intestinal parasites’ recommendation targeted migrants from sub-tropical and tropical countries. Conclusions We developed screening recommendations adapted to the targeted migrant populations’ profiles and the local context of each health system, considering the available resources at the primary care level, which will lead to better healthcare provision for migrants.

Source: European Journal of Public Health

DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckaf180.283