Health Promotion Officer

Health Promotion Officer / Intercultural Mediator Arabic & Tigrinya

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian aid organization that provides assistance in more than 70 countries to populations in distress, to victims of natural or manmade disasters and to victims of armed conflicts, without discrimination and irrespective of origin, religion, creed or political affiliation.

CONTEXT

In a country at the heart of EU serving as destination and transit country and in a context marked by the strengthening of deterrent policies, the erosion of human rights and the reduction in the resources available to support the most vulnerable, the Belgian project of MSF is aiming – in collaboration with the existing network – to treat and document the health consequences of migration policies: in various settings (detention centers, informal settlements, squats, on the streets, etc.); among various migrant groups without effective access to healthcare (migrants in transit, stranded in Belgium, people facing detention, asylum seekers excluded from the system, etc.); and with a specific focus on mental health and survivors of violences.

Today, the project is structured around 4 main axes of intervention:
1. Mobile team which provides sensitization, prevention, health promotion, mental health and referral to specialized medical care for the most vulnerable;
2. Detention where MSF coordinates a pool of volunteer doctors and psychologists providing second medical opinion for people held in administrative detentioncenters;
3. Emergencies preparedness;
4. Advocacy focusing on the health impacts of migration policies (e.g. policy of non-reception), MSF seeks to strengthen awareness, shape narratives, and advocate for more humane responses.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

MSF's purpose in Belgium aims to address, through a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach, the health needs and key social determinants of the most vulnerable segments of the population, including migrants in transit and undocumented migrants, while proactively engaging in assessing main difficulties and promoting institutional change.

• Inform and guide patients and communities about all psycho-medico-social services / institutions available to them in the Brussels network and how to access them.
• According to medical priorities and assessed needs, organize health education activities for the patients and community on relevant mental health topics (such as health risks on the migration journey, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases and violence awareness), mental health (stress management, self-care) and transversal topics (MSF awareness, health system in Belgium, services promotion.
• Provide information, raise awareness, and link to care to empower the target population and enable them to take informed decision about their (physical or mental) health and how to get access to healthcare. This will be achieved through service information and guidance on the Belgium health care system, other NGOs’ services and health education on most prevalent health/mental health issues in the target group.
• Participate in the realisation and implementation of situation analysis, needs assessments, community mappings and diverse HP projects under the guidance of the HP Supervisor.
• Reflect with the outreach team (collaboration with the med/MH staff) to adapt activities and messages to ensure smooth flow of activities, avoiding misunderstandings and improving the quality of services.

Network with relevant community actors (e.g. community-based organization, migrant-led committees) and follow up activities with them based on a community engagement approach.

• Implement activities such as health talks, RQA (Rapid Qualitative Assessment), DHP (Digital Health Promotion) participation in events with other partners etc.
• Support in monitoring of HP activities and produce regular reports to the supervisor.
• Participate in team case management meetings and attend supervision sessions with members of the team, as part of intercultural mediation responsibilities connected to working in the migration context
• Provide quality and culturally sensitive interpretation between the care providers and the person(s) receiving a service (trialogue) in the language in which they would like to express themselves (source language/target language), supporting intercultural awareness, sensitivity and clear communication between the parties.
• Assist care providers and the people receiving services in addressing negative consequences of sociocultural differences, supporting the therapeutic/social intervention through sharing with the care providers relevant aspects of the cultural background of the person(s) receiving a service, acting as a cultural broker; identifyi