4+-+Health+challenges+for+refugees

= Challenges faced by Government-Assisted Refugees = media type="youtube" key="C0TSkxuoneY" height="268" width="448" align="center"

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 * Refugees arriving in Canada are faced with many challenges, including:**
 * Language
 * Climate
 * Cultural differences: food, parenting, family dynamics, visiting, eating, courtesies
 * Employment/education
 * Health/Mental health
 * Lack of support
 * Isolation
 * Financial situation
 * Conflight with personal expectations of what life in Canada is going to be like

The challenges refugees encounter and the physical or psychological effects of adjustment to life in Canada also partly depend on the reason for emigration (war, natural disaster, religious or political persecution, economic hardship).


 * Phases of Refugee Transition**

After a refugee decides to leave their homeland, the timeline has been divided by scholars into five stages. These are seen in Table 1.

In the impact/preparatory stage (when the crisis occurs), family & local community members come together, consolidating resources & developing a plan.

The overcompensation stage occurs on arrival in the new country, where the refugee's energies are mobilized to enable them to live in a strange country.

After the "honeymoon period," refugees often have a decompensation stage as the challenges of life in a new environment become apparent.

Refugees may then go through a phase of intergenerational and cultural conflict.

Sluzki CE. Migration and family conflict. Fam Process 1979;18:379-90.

This consists of:
 * Refugees are screened for diseases before arrival to Canada with the Immigration Medical Exam.**
 * Full physical examination for all family members;
 * PA chest X–ray and a radiologist's report for any person aged 11 or over
 * Blood test (VDRL or similar test) for everyone aged 15 or over
 * Urinalysis (sugar, protein, and blood) for all applicants aged 5 or over.
 * HIV testing


 * While this is a helpful first step, we know that refugees face poorer health outcomes and many health problems.**
 * These include: **
 * Dental problems
 * Hepatitis B
 * Gastrointestinal parasites
 * Tuberculosis
 * Hepatitis C
 * Post-traumatic stress disorder
 * Anemia - iron deficiency, thalassemia, other hemoglobinopathies, infection with hookworm, malaria
 * Rheumatic heart disease
 * Anxiety or depression
 * An estimated 2/3 of reguees experience some form of this after arrival to the US
 * Blindness - cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, infectious causes of blindness, trauma
 * Unwanted pregnancy


 * Refugees also have been found to have impaired accessibility to preventive screening services.** This is particularly seen in the low rates of immigrant women who undergo cervical cancer screening with Pap smears.

For more information on health problems encountered by refugees, as well as recommended screening, see:

[]
 * Canadian Guidelines for Immigrant Health - Summary of clinical preventive care recommendations for newly arriving immigrants and refugees to Canada:**


 * Clinical Primer for Immigrant & Refugee Health:**


 * Medical Care for Immigrants and Refugees:** []