CIS-Iscte releases clinical case manual “Health in Equity”

On the date that marks World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, May 21, the Center for Psychological Research and Social Intervention (CIS-Iscte) is launching the e-book “Saúde em Equidade: Manual de casos clínicos para profissionais de saúde em contextos de diversidade cultural" (Health in Equity: Handbook of clinical cases for health professionals in contexts of cultural diversity) in open access.

Organized by researchers Carla Moleiro (CIS-Iscte) and Sandra Roberto (CIS-Iscte; Instituto Piaget), this e-book is the result of joint work by the “Health in Equality” project team, funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (FAMI PT/2019/FAMI/439) and also including researchers from CIES-Iscte. The aim of this project was to train health professionals in the promotion and effective integration of migrants through the provision of quality health care that is sensitive to cultural diversity, thus becoming a way of combating discrimination.

As part of the project, several health professionals shared actual clinical cases that pose challenges in providing health care to migrants, ranging from language barriers to adapting diets based on religious diversity. Now compiled in this manual, they can serve as a basis for promoting more inclusive practices in the provision of healthcare.

In addition to clinical cases in the areas of maternal and child health, mental health, acute illness and urgent care, and monitoring chronic illnesses, the book includes a set of key strategies that can be adopted by various health professionals, including medicine, nursing and psychology, among others.

Carla Moleiro considers this manual to be “one more tool for the promotion of equity in the context of health care provision”, also stressing the need to train professionals in order to reduce inequalities in the health of migrants.

The manual is available in open access in the Iscte repository: http://doi.org/10.15847/cis.saude.equidade