[en] In recent years, there has been significant growth in the migrant population in Barcelona and Catalonia. Depending on their country of origin, immigrants face specific challenges from a healthcare perspective. The Catalan public healthcare system needs to understand what these challenges are and assess how to address them. To explore how this situation is being addressed in the city of Barcelona and Catalonia, a study was conducted in collaboration with the Drassanes-Vall d'Hebron International Health Unit. This unit, aware of the issues affecting immigrant communities, provides comprehensive and specialized care, conducts screenings, and carries out public health actions aimed at detecting and treating diseases such as Chagas disease and hepatitis C, especially among the Bolivian, Pakistani, and Chinese communities, which are at high risk for these pathologies. The study analyzes the disease prevalence data provided by the unit and compares it with official data from the countries of origin to evaluate whether the screenings conducted in Barcelona and Catalonia reached all migrant individuals, and whether the healthcare actions were truly effective. It was observed that some communities were more covered than others, but in general, there was an underdiagnosis of diseases in the three studied communities, suggesting that current campaigns are insufficient to identify all possible cases. Therefore, it was proposed to increase or adjust the campaigns to reach more people for diagnosis. Additionally, we did a statistical analysis of the individual data collected to determine whether socio-economic and cultural factors influenced the vulnerability of these communities to the diseases and their worsening. It was demonstrated that the vulnerability of these communities, combined with barriers such as the reason for immigration, lack of education, and limited access to healthcare services, negatively contributes to the incidence of these diseases. Finally, this work has been a good way to apply engineering and the knowledge acquired throughout the degree to the field of medicine. It demonstrates how technical knowledge can be used to improve understanding and solve specific problems in the healthcare field. The study analyzes the disease prevalence data provided by the unit and compares it with official data from the countries of origin to evaluate whether the screenings conducted in Barcelona and Catalonia reached all migrant individuals, and whether the healthcare actions were truly effective. It was observed that some communities were more covered than others, but in general, there was an underdiagnosis of diseases in the three studied communities, suggesting that current campaigns are insufficient to identify all possible cases. Therefore, it was proposed to increase or adjust the campaigns to reach more people for diagnosis. Additionally, we did a statistical analysis of the individual data collected to determine whether socio-economic and cultural factors influenced the vulnerability of these communities to the diseases and their worsening. It was demonstrated that the vulnerability of these communities, combined with barriers such as the reason for immigration, lack of education, and limited access to healthcare services, negatively contributes to the incidence of these diseases. Finally, this work has been a good way to apply engineering and the knowledge acquired throughout the degree to the field of medicine. It demonstrates how technical knowledge can be used to improve understanding and solve specific problems in the healthcare field.

[es] Desde hace unos años, hay un crecimiento importante de la población migrante en Barcelona y en Cataluña. Dependiendo del país de origen, los inmigrantes presentan desafíos específicos desde la perspectiva sanitaria. Desde la sanidad pública catalana, es necesario conocer cuáles son estos desafíos y evaluar cómo afrontarlos. Para explorar cómo se aborda esta situación en la ciudad de Barcelona y en Cataluña, se llevó a cabo un estudio en colaboración con la Unidad de Salud Internacional Drassanes-Vall d'Hebron. Esta unidad, consciente de los problemas que afectan a las comunidades inmigrantes, ofrece atención integral y especializada, realiza cribados y lleva a cabo acciones de salud pública destinadas a detectar y tratar enfermedades como la enfermedad de Chagas y la hepatitis C, especialmente entre las comunidades boliviana, pakistaní y china, que presentan un alto riesgo para estas patologías. En el trabajo se analiza los datos de prevalencia de las enfermedades proporcionados por la unidad y se contrastan con datos oficiales de los países de origen para evaluar si los cribados realizados en Barcelona y en Cataluña llegaban a todas las personas inmigrantes, y si las acciones de atención eran realmente efectivas. Se obserba que hay comunidades más cubiertas que otras, pero en general existe un infradiagnóstico de las enfermedades en las tres comunidades estudiadas, lo que sugiere que las campañas actuales no son suficientes para identificar todos los casos posibles. Por lo tanto, se propone aumentar las campañas o ajustarlas de manera que lleguen a diagnosticar a más personas. Además, se realiza un análisis estadístico de los datos individuales recopilados para determinar si existen factores socioeconómicos y culturales que influyen en la vulnerabilidad de estas comunidades frente a las enfermedades y en su empeoramiento. Se demuestra que la situación de vulnerabilidad de estas comunidades, sumada a barreras como el motivo de immigración, la falta de educación y el acceso limitado a servicios sanitarios, contribuyen negativamente a la incidencia de estas enfermedades. Finalmente, este trabajo ha sido una buena manera de aplicar la ingeniería y los conocimientos obtenidos a lo largo de la carrera al ámbito de la medicina. Demostrando cómo los conocimientos técnicos pueden ser utilizados para mejorar la comprensión y la resolución de problemas específicos en el campo sanitario.