Strategies for building non-governmental infrastructure to meet refugee health needs

Governmental public health agencies are often tasked with facilitating and supporting access to health care and preventive health education and related services for refugees within their jurisdiction. Yet for many refugees in the United States there is substantial hesitancy to trust government entities and present significant challenges to overcoming language and cultural barriers. Jurisdictions that are primary refugee resettlement areas may have disproportionately large refugee populations that can grow quickly over short periods of time. This situation is challenging for local infrastructure and service providers who must adapt to meet the unique needs of new and secondary refugee arrivals in their communities. The refugees themselves are frequently survivors of substantial trauma and are challenged to understand and negotiate the service systems in their new community. To address these challenges and meet these unique needs, governmental public health collaborates with a range of institutions and organizations. However, in communities with little to no local or county governmental public health infrastructure, the role of non-profit and ethnically-based community-based organizations is especially vital. The presenter will describe a successful collaboration between a state government public health agency, a non-governmental public health organization, and an ethnically-based community-based organization. The lessons learned and strategies used to engage the community, identify gaps in services as well as access to care, build health and social service networks, and create non-governmental infrastructure will be of interest to others, especially in low infrastructure low social capital communities who may be struggling to engage and support refugees.