Strategic planning and innovative interventions to address chronic health conditions among diverse refugee communities

The Newcomers Health Program led a strategic planning process to acquire information for the development of a comprehensive, innovative cardiovascular-related chronic disease prevention and management project for diverse refugee/asylee patient populations in San Francisco. The refugees and asylees currently resettling in San Francisco come from many areas of the world, ranging from Burma to Russia and from Peru to China, and have diverse socio-cultural and health practices and beliefs around chronic diseases. The process consisted of methods such as refugee health condition review, infrastructure assessment, surveys, focus groups, and key informant interviews intended to identify diverse beliefs and practices around chronic health issues and healthy living, and allowed us to incorporate input from multiple partners on these diverse populations. Input was provided by refugee clinic staff and providers, refugee community health workers, community-based organizations serving refugee communities, and refugee patients. We will present findings from this strategic planning process, and then provide an overview of the project that has been developed and is in the process of being implemented. Components of this innovative project include systematic tracking, referral and follow-up systems, culturally appropriate primary prevention health education, activity sessions ranging from walking groups to yoga, incorporation of community leaders, and chronic disease management involving health care providers and cultural liaisons. We will discuss the critical importance of supportive partners including refugee clinic providers and staff and refugee community leaders and agencies, as well as the unique roles each of the partners provides in the diverse approaches of this multi-faceted project.