Chisinau / Vilnius, October 23. Today, a delegation formed by representatives of the Moldovan Sectoral Working Group on Health, led by the Ministry of Health with the participation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and its specialized agencies, National Health Insurance Company and United Nations Agencies, paid visit to the Republic of Lithuania for a 2-day study mission organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the Republic of Moldova, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO).

The study visit aims at learning from Lithuanian’s best practices on the integration of foreigners into the Moldovan health system and to ensure equitable access to medical services for vulnerable groups among migrants and refugees in the country. The program includes meetings with Lithuania’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Health, and National Health Insurance Fund, as well as visits to closed-type placement centers.

These interactions will focus on understanding how Lithuania ensures access to health services for various categories of foreigners, with an emphasis on sustainability and social inclusion.

The initiative was organized based on the recent IOM Moldova’s report “Legal and Financial Aspects of Foreigners’ Access to Health Services in the Republic of Moldova”, in which Lithuania was identified as a leading example in developing and implementing a well-integrated and functional model for providing health services to foreigners.

A model from which Moldovan representatives of institutions can learn to further strengthen and improve the regulatory framework and mechanisms for facilitating foreign citizens’ access to health services. 

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For more information, please contact

Riccardo Severi, Communications and Public Information Officer - IOM Moldova, rseveri@iom.int