330 Source country approach to migration health in the age of COVID-19: development of a conceptual framework using the Philippines as case study

Abstract PTH 6: Health Policy and Health Services 1, B307 (FCSH), September 4, 2025, 16:30 - 17:30 International declarations recognize the mutual responsibility of source and destination countries in promoting migrant health. However, much of the scientific and policy gaze are directed to destination countries – their responses towards migrants they receive. Little is known about the roles, responsibilities, and activities undertaken by source countries – of labor migrants, for instance. Failing to understand both sides of the migration journey, especially the often-neglected source country viewpoint, may lead to missed opportunities. This paper investigates the different roles, obligations, and measures that source countries can undertake to promote the health of citizens on the move. This case study focuses on the experience of the Philippines, a predominantly sending country with long history of international labor migration, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study utilizes existing frameworks such as the migration cycle and World Health Organization resolution on migrant health. Data from peer-reviewed and grey literature (i.e. government documents, UN reports) were assembled and analyzed. Based on the Philippine experience, the range of measures that a source country can implement is not limited to its territory but spans the whole migration cycle – pre-departure screening, health promotion activities in embassies, accrediting healthcare providers in receiving countries, medical repatriation assistance and reintegration, etc. To implement these measures, source countries can harness four main tools: innovative financing; rights-based domestic policies; proactive diplomacy; and formal and informal networks (diaspora communities). Source countries will undoubtedly confront several issues: resource limitations; institutional capacity constraints; tension between the needs of migrants and non-migrants; and perception that the source country tolerates undocumented migration. Additionally, source country efforts do not spare destination countries from their obligations to migrants’ health rights. This proposed framework – and lessons from the Philippines – can aid source countries in promoting their citizen’s health rights no matter where they are in the world.