A high-level health expert consultation meeting was held in Istanbul with 48 participants from academia, NGOs, international organizations, public health authorities and municipalities, in addition to youth representatives. The meeting focused on the use of digital health technologies to increase young refugees’ access to health information and services in Turkey, as part of the REACH Project.

The consultation meeting explored steps that academia, civil society, and businesses can take to strengthen the REACH initiative through the participation and contributions of all involved parties, and a meeting outcome was the development of a long-running plan.

he meeting started with opening remarks from Columbia University, CGCs | Istanbul, Istanbul University and Bir IZ Association followed by remarks from local and refugee youth representatives regarding some of the health care related challenges faced by young refugees and how digital technologies can create a change. The meeting continued with a panel of three speakers from academia and NGOs, who discussed refugees’ barriers in accessing health information and health care and presented two digital health projects as examples of technology-based interventions to improve health and access to health care for refugees.

In the afternoon session, the participants were divided into three small working groups with three different themes. The overall aim of the working groups was to get an overview of participants’ experiences and opinions on digital health interventions in addition to their recommendations regarding development of a mHealth app for youth