Refugee Health
Refugees are often disproportionally affected by infectious disease mainly because of their geographic origin, ethnicity, conditions at a refugee camp, as well as personal, physical, and psychological conditions, either pre-existing or acquired while they fled their homeland and made way to a camp. The Federal Refugee Act of 1980 recommends that all new refugees arriving in the United States receive a comprehensive health assessment. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) housed in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is charged with funding and oversight of this effort. Three medical interventions are either required or recommended in order to contain infectious disease and reduce the medical burdens that may be associated with refugee resettlement. First is a mandatory overseas screening for all refugees and immigrants, then a recommended domestic screening for refugees, and finally a required medical component to the Adjustment of Status (Green Card) process.
Read more about Refugee Health: Overseas Screening, Domestic Screening, Common Health Concerns in Refugees, Adjustment of Status Exam, Sample State Programs
Famous quotes containing the words refugee and/or health:
“The refugee uncertain at the door
You make at home; deftly you steady
The drunk clambering on his undulant floor.”
—John Frederick Nims (b. 1913)
“We are conscious of an animal in us, which awakens in proportion as our higher nature slumbers. It is reptile and sensual, and perhaps cannot be wholly expelled; like the worms which, even in life and health, occupy our bodies. Possibly we may withdraw from it, but never change its nature. I fear that it may enjoy a certain health of its own; that we may be well, yet not pure.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)