Laboratory of Forensic Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
CISUC, Department of Informatics Engineering, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
J Glob Health. 2022 May 14;12:04047. doi: 10.7189/jogh.12.04047.
The increase of forcibly displaced people worldwide is a challenge for health systems and their ability to provide access and equity in Health as a universal right. In the case of migrants and refugees, their journey exacerbates this challenge, as they go through diverse countries, camps, and humanitarian teams. Hence, the collection and analysis of health data are essential in providing quality care. The scientific community has been studying health digital technologies to answer health data consolidation, transparency, and global surveillance efficiency issues. Observing some empirical experiments with Blockchain in migrants and refugee health, we assessed the state-of-the-art by conducting a literature review.
Blockchain applications are still emerging, which means that peer-reviewed literature may still be scarce in life science databases. Therefore, to gather the most appropriate available evidence, we used a diverse and balanced set of databases that compile articles and journals from different fields. We used a multi-step scoping review to refine search keywords and analyse the literature. We included studies between 2008 and 2021 that reported value, utility, or use cases of Blockchain in support of migrant and refugee health.
We identified a total of 69 articles, with 22 retained for full-text analysis and 8 of those being relevant. We employed Rayyan application to manage and evaluate the references by two researchers working independently. We identified two main uses of Blockchain technology to support migrant and refugee health: mitigate the lack of personal identification and make health records available. Blockchain also promotes data reliability in humanitarian aid, academic certificates, legal contracts, and financial transactions.
The availability of reliable information about individuals facilitates universal health coverage, improves cooperation between diaspora-related countries, and supports global health efficiency in line with the third goal of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 agenda. Given its characteristics of decentralization, resilience, transparency, and auditability, Blockchain remains a promising avenue for future research in migrant and refugee health.
全球被迫流离失所者的增加对卫生系统及其提供普遍权利所必需的获取和公平性构成了挑战。在移民和难民的情况下，他们的旅程加剧了这一挑战，因为他们要经过不同的国家、难民营和人道主义团队。因此，收集和分析健康数据对于提供优质护理至关重要。科学界一直在研究健康数字技术，以解决健康数据整合、透明度和全球监测效率问题。观察到区块链在移民和难民健康方面的一些实证实验，我们通过文献回顾评估了最新技术水平。
区块链应用仍在出现，这意味着同行评议的文献在生命科学数据库中可能仍然稀缺。因此，为了收集最合适的现有证据，我们使用了多样化和平衡的数据库集，这些数据库汇集了来自不同领域的文章和期刊。我们使用多步骤范围审查来细化搜索关键字并分析文献。我们纳入了 2008 年至 2021 年间报告区块链在支持移民和难民健康方面的价值、效用或用例的研究。
我们共确定了 69 篇文章，其中 22 篇进行了全文分析，其中 8 篇相关。我们使用 Rayyan 应用程序由两名独立工作的研究人员管理和评估参考文献。我们确定了区块链技术支持移民和难民健康的两个主要用途：缓解个人身份识别的缺乏并使健康记录可用。区块链还促进了人道主义援助、学历证书、法律合同和金融交易中的数据可靠性。
可靠的个人信息的可用性促进了全民健康覆盖，改善了与侨民有关的国家之间的合作，并支持了 2030 年可持续发展目标议程的第三个目标的全球卫生效率。鉴于区块链去中心化、弹性、透明度和可审计性的特点，它仍然是移民和难民健康未来研究的一个有前途的途径。
