The project MEET - Meeting the health literacy needs of immigrant populations (http://migranthealth.eu/)  was launched in October 2013 and it is expected to be completed by the end of September 2015. It involves partners from different starting-points on health promotion and different immigration contexts to introduce the Community Health Educator Model (CHE) awarded in 2000 by the British Ministry of Health and adopted by many health districts in the UK. The CHE is an empowering health promotion model in which members of migrant and minority ethnic communities are recruited and trained to participate in the delivery of health promotion initiatives. The main aim is to propose actions aimed at reducing inequities including targeted health promotion and best practice exchange.

In Cyprus through focus groups and individual discussions with health care providers and women representing migrant groups we have identified a number of needs, and we have decided to focus on mother and child health based on the high level of contact of this group with health care services, the reported problems encountered by healthcare professionals when dealing with this group of users and the concentration of services in one location facilitating the user pathway.  We will focus on providing information to women about the importance of prenatal care, appropriate health behaviours during the time of pregnancy and after birth, the services available to them from the maternal and child services, and promote understanding of appropriate responses to problems encountered during pregnancy and the neonatal period, based on the advice of healthcare professionals.  

Keywords:

maternal and child health, maternal health literacy, pregnancy, women, prenatal care, postnatal care, migrant and minority ethnic women, Cyprus

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
[Project Number: 540139-LLP-1-2013-1-IT-GRUNDTVIG-GMP]