Since 1975, more than 3 million refugees have settled in the United States, fleeing unrest, conflict, and persecution. Refugees represent diverse ethnic, cultural, religious, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds. Despite this heterogeneity, there are commonalities in the refugee experience. Before resettlement, all refugees must undergo an overseas medical screening to detect conditions t...

BACKGROUND Asylum seekers and refugees have been claimed to be at increased risk of developing complex posttraumatic stress disorder (complex PTSD). Consequently, it has been recommended that refugees be treated with present-centred or phased treatment rather than stand-alone trauma-focused treatment. This recommendation has contributed to a clinical practice of delaying or waiving trauma-focus...

Closing U.S. borders to refugees will not likely enhance domestic security. The United Nations (“U.N.”) and some Western democracies suggest that a policy of integrating refugees may more effectively promote the security interests of both refugees and the countries in which they resettle. Refugee integration is a multifaceted process requiring accommodation on behalf of individual refugees and ...

INTRODUCTION The government of Sudan has consistently accepted refugees on a humanitarian basis since the mid 1960s. The refugees in the country are in: (i) reception centres; (ii) organized wageearning and semi-urban settlements; and (iii) urban and rural areas where refugees have self-settled among the local population. The main concern here is the self-settled urban refugees, with more empha...

OBJECTIVE Study findings suggest that refugees are more vulnerable than the general population to mental disorders from disasters. This pilot study explored the nature of Vietnamese refugees' resilience to a potential natural disaster as a first step toward improving their disaster mental health. METHODS Interviews were conducted with 20 ethnic Vietnamese and Montagnard adult refugees using a...

Aims and method To examine treatment response in traumatised refugees, we compared routine outcome monitoring data (Harvard Trauma Questionnaire) of two refugee populations with those of individuals experiencing profession-related trauma who were treated at a specialised psychotrauma institute. Results Asylum seekers/temporary refugees (n = 21) and resettled refugees (n = 169) showed significan...

In 2015, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees accommodated over 15 million refugees, mostly in refugee camps in developing countries. The World Food Program provided these refugees with food aid, in cash or in kind. Refugees' impacts on host countries are controversial and little understood. This unique study analyzes the economic impacts of refugees on host-country economies within ...

BACKGROUND High rates of mental health problems have been described in young refugees, but few studies have been conducted on substance misuse. This study aimed to investigate the patterns of hospital care and criminality associated with substance misuse in refugees who settled in Sweden as teenagers. METHODS Gender stratified Cox regression models were used to estimate the risks of criminal ...

INTRODUCTION The receipt rate of hepatitis B virus vaccine among adolescents in the United States is high, while the receipt rate of human papillomavirus vaccine is low. Rates have not been closely studied among refugees, whose home countries have high rates of disease caused by these viruses. METHODS We examined human papillomavirus and hepatitis B virus immunization rates among 2,269 refuge...

With the increasing trend in refugee urbanisation, growing numbers of refugees are diagnosed with chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). However, with few exceptions, the local and international communities prioritise communicable diseases. The aim of this study is to review the literature to determine the prevalence and distribution of chronic NCDs among urban refugees living in developing c...