On 26/3/2019, the revised draft of the Global Compact on Migration  (GCM) was released. To achieve its goal of “safe, orderly and regular migration”, it proposes 22 actionable commitments, covering different areas, sectors and levels of action along the migration cycle. Most commitments have an obvious and concrete link to migration and mobility, but number 22 is more cryptic: “Establish mechanisms for the portability of social security entitlements and earned benefits”.
Both social security entitlements and earned benefits come under the term social protection: the policies and programmes that aim to reduce poverty and vulnerability to shocks. It includes: Social assistance; Social security / insurance such as pensions. These are conditional on past contributions by employees and employers.
However, In most cases, migrant workers, with their lifestyle, communication, occupation, income, accommodation, etc. have a difficult time accessing social security policies. 
There is extensive evidence showing that the vast majority of labour migrants are young, fit and healthy when they embark on their migrant journey. Migration can benefit the health status of migrants and their families through increased socioeconomic status, better education and purchasing power for their families ’left behind’, thanks to remittances. However, migrants’ health vulnerabilities can occur throughout the migration cycle. The conditions in which they travel, restricted access to health services upon arriving to destination country, exploitation, poor living and working conditions, discrimination, the geographical distance from their families and support system, are some of the aspects of the migration process that can impact the health of labour migrants and lead to the deterioration of their health status. 
Many migrant workers are employed in high risk and hazardous sectors such as mining, agriculture and construction. These kinds of jobs usually involve long hours and hard physical labor, which can result in increased occupational accidents. Particularly those in an irregular migration status endure dangerous working conditions and fear drawing attention to themselves and losing their jobs, or being deported. Furthermore, migrant workers are often not allowed to form and join trade unions, which may be an additional obstacle to raising concerns about their health and safety in the workplace. In addition, sexual exploitation has been widely reported in particular in the context of female labor migrants working in informal sector, such as domestic work. 
Many labour migrants undergo some form of health screening or health assessments pre departure and/or upon arrival as a recruitment pre-requisite. Costs of the testing procedures can be high, and often paid by the migrants. Existing evidence indicates that health assessment providers often operate in isolation, with little to no formal association or information sharing with a country’s public health system, and do not ensure referral for needed treatments and follow up. Mandatory testing for some conditions, such as HIV or pregnancy, or lack of proper diagnostic practices, is of limited public health value and leads to unnecessary deportations of many. If health assessments are to meaningfully contribute to the greater public health good, and moreover, benefit the health of labor migrants, national health systems linkages and migrants’ ability to take health improvement measures, must be strengthened. 
Recently, The Department of Population, under the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration in Vietnam, organised a workshop on "Migration and Health of Internal Migrants" in Hanoi. 
According to Le Thanh Dung, Director General of the General Department of Population and a Member of the National Steering Committee for Population and Development, Vietnam's population is currently 100.3 million, of which the urban population accounts for 38.13%. Vietnam is in the golden population structure period, with 67.7 million people of working age, accounting for 67.4% of the total population. This is a large migrant force in Vietnam.
According to Vu Dinh Huy, a representative of the World Health Organisation in Vietnam, internal migrants currently face many health problems.
For the informal migrant group, it is often more difficult due to living conditions, working conditions, and working hours. This also includes work that is not controlled, tends to have an unhealthy lifestyle or has a high risk of contracting infectious and non-communicable diseases, including mental illness.
The migrants still face barriers and difficulties related to accessing health care services.
Many policy options exist to secure and maintain social security rights across countries, and the ILO has developed a strategy and policy guidance tools that can inform governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations as well as other stakeholders in their efforts to extend social protection to migrant workers and refugees. 

Based on the principles of equality of treatment and nondiscrimination, countries are encouraged to consider the following six complementary and mutually reinforcing policy measures: Progressively building national social protection systems that are inclusive of migrant workers and refugees; Supporting the ratification of relevant ILO standards and new / revised social security laws and their concrete implementation; Concluding social security agreements (bi/multi) between countries to ensure the portability of benefits across countries; Concluding BLMAs with social security provisions based on the equality of treatment principle; Setting complementary measures addressing the administrative & practical obstacles faced by migrant workers and refugees.
According to Vu Dinh Huy, in Vietnam, solutions to support the health of internal migrants include measures to provide health knowledge and strengthen the social care network. This includes creating conditions for housing, education, hygiene, and health insurance, strengthening primary health care to develop policies/regulations on occupational safety, working conditions, and primary care facilities at companies, monitoring implementation as well as conducting periodic health check-ups. 
Portable social security benefits for migrants have great potential to alleviate poverty and contribute to development. Social protection system for migants is estential to build fair and civilized society​.