Health and environment at work
Health and the environment
in the home
© Olivier Papegnies
Environment and health – Living environments
Housing constitutes a major health determinant:
- It provides protection and shapes people’s living conditions,
- It provides a private space that is essential to human well-being and stability.
- The security it provides is crucial for access to rights, employment, and healthcare.
What kind of actions are carried out by Médecins du Monde?
On the streets and in day centres, our teams support people who are most excluded from healthcare through:
- Assistance with administrative procedures and access to health rights;
- Medical outreach, medical consultations, psychosocial support, and health mediation;
- Information and awareness-raising among medical and social professionals on the issue of housing and precarious living conditions.
Médecins du Monde works in squats and informal settlements to help people access healthcare and rights, or to refer them to appropriate health services, with particular focus on the health of women and children. The organisation’s health mediators work alongside civil society and public service partners to improve the continuity and quality of care. Together with its partners, programme teams also help improve living conditions in squats and informal settlements, so that residents can at least access water, hygiene, and sanitation.
Médecins du Monde highlights the difficulties faced by vulnerable people who are homeless or living in informal settings in exercising their rights and accessing healthcare. Faced with the failure of public authorities to provide sustainable solutions for the hundreds of thousands of people without a home, Médecins du Monde advocates for the right to decent and long-term housing for all as an essential determinant of health, which everyone should be able to access without discrimination. The organisation advocates with public institutions to promote appropriate and sustainable shelter and housing responses, as well as mobile services that can deliver medical and psychosocial support and ensure effective access to care for those who are most excluded.
Médecins du Monde supports slum upgrading policies that fully involve the people concerned and stresses the importance of coordinated solutions and of appropriate, sustainable rehousing options. In the absence of dignified alternatives, and while such solutions are being developed in consultation with residents, the organisation advocates for temporary stabilisation measures and for health protection in living environments.
