gms | German Medical Science

The recent surge in global migration has posed a significant healthcare challenge for European countries, particularly concerning migrants and refugees, especially children. As global tuberculosis prevalence peaked in 2022, compounded by conflicts such as the war in Ukraine, which drive populations from high MDR prevalence areas to seek asylum in Europe, maintaining tuberculosis control has become a top priority for many public health authorities. Recognizing the pivotal role of healthcare access in early TB case identification, the commitment to tuberculosis control presents a unique opportunity to bolster healthcare services for refugee children across Europe. In response to these challenges, in March 2023, the Infectious Diseases Team at the Hauner Children’s Hospital and The Public Health Department of the City of Munich joined forces to establish a new structural framework for providing care to refugee-migrant children and their families: the Pediatric Migrant and Public Health Centre Munich (PMPH) aiming to improve access and quality of care provided to refugee-migrant children, with a specific focus on TB. Since its initiation the PMPH Center Munich has cared for >280 children from >35 different countries of origin. By tailoring our services to the unique medical and social needs of this vulnerable patient group, we have successfully improved communication with patients, fellow clinicians, and institutions, raising the level of patient care and infection control to a new level. Creation of this new collaborative network has opened new avenues of pediatric TB care and research in the greater Munich region building a well characterized pediatric TB cohort.