CARDET with its partners from Italy, UK, Austria and Spain, launched the LLP funded MEET project at a meeting held in Arezzo, Italy on November 14-15, 2013.

In Europe, the access to social and health services began to be considered a primary indicator of the level of migrants’ integration. However, there is a persistent difficulty in the access and use of health services by citizens with a migrant background, especially regarding preventive medicine and health care. These shortfalls pose new challenges for professionals, management and quality assurance in health services. Lower levels of health literacy among migrants are relevant, especially as concerns the appropriate use of health care systems. This increased diversity of EU population calls for a more migrant-sensitive workforce. In this perspective, the project involve partners from different starting-points on health promotion and different immigration contexts to introduce the Community Health Educator Model (CHE) awarded in 2000 by the British Ministry of Health and adopted by many health districts in the UK.

The CHE is an empowering health promotion model in which members of migrant and minority ethnic communities are recruited and trained to participate in the delivery of health promotion initiatives. The model will be adapted to different European contexts, updated in collaboration with at least 75-80 trained CHEs, 50 health care professionals and is expected to outreach 1000 users from a migrant background during its 2 years duration (November 2013 -October 2015). MEET project aims to:

• Assess Individual and Community Needs for Health Education and strengthen health literacy by promoting information, guidance and access to the services;
• Enhance the cultural and interpersonal competences of health and social service providers;
• Network between migrant communities, health services, adult education providers, local and regional institutions involved in health care sector.

Main Outputs:

• Guideline Handbook for the application of CHE intervention model;
• CHE Training Handbook addressed to adult education providers;
• Grundtvig training course structure
• E-learning platform for trainers and trainees.