Refugee Populations
Refugee Health
People of refugee background are affected by distinct health inequalities that arise from their experiences both prior to arrival in Australia and after arrival. These issues are often compounded by the effects of torture and trauma.
Prior to arrival, some refugee clients may have had:
- Interrupted access to health care
- Limited access to safe drinking water, inadequate/interrupted access to nutritious food
- Limited access to preventative care, medical treatment or health education
- Experiences of uncertainty, deprivation, loss of dignity, separation from loved ones and being forced to make impossible decisions.
Even after arrival in Australia, obstacles remain such as:
- High barriers to service access
- Being a minority in an unfamiliar culture
- Having to negotiate new systems (often with low English proficiency)
- Ongoing separation from loved ones
- Stress related to receiving bad news from country of origin/refuge
- Not having vocational skills recognized
‘Refugee Transitions’ – Free downloads of the magazine from STARTTS here
Refugee Populations
- Understanding Refugee communities – Refugee Council of Australia
- Department of Social Services – Community Profiles
- Building a New Life in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Humanitarian Migrants – National Centre for Longitudinal Data – David Marshall Read it here.
Yazidi Population
The Yazidis are an emerging refugee community in Queensland. For more information
- Client Group: YAZIDI – STARTTS
- Individual, collective, and transgenerational traumatization in the Yazidi (BMC Medicine)
- Yazidi Population Profile: Canada
Syrian Population
- Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne – Immigrant Health Service
- Syrian Population Profile: Canada
- Culture, Context and the Mental Health and Psychosocial Wellbeing of Syrians (2015)
Central African Republic
Central African Republic – Africa’s Forgotten War
Rohingya refugees
- Abuse or Exile: Myanmar’s Ongoing Persecution of the Rohingya – Refugees International
- CULTURE, CONTEXT AND MENTAL HEALTH OF ROHINGYA REFUGEES; A review for staff in mental health and psychosocial support programmes for Rohingya refugees (UNHCR, 2018)
Other Refugee Communities in Queensland
Greater Brisbane Refugee Health Advisory Group reports about refugee communities in Brisbane. These reports inform health professionals about the health issues currently impacting on these communities.
- Health Action Plans Feb 2014
- A Syrian family’s journey through health and life – By Michel Ghazal – Presentation to Brisbane South PHN (Oct, 2018)
- Syrian Community – Health issues
- Burundian Community – Health issues
- Communities from Burma – Health issues
- Rwandan community – Health issues
- Iraqi community – Health issues