BMJ 1998;317:1444-1446 ( 21 November )

Education and debate

Refugees and primary care: tackling the inequalities

David Jones, lecturer, ^a Paramjit S Gill, senior lecturer. ^b

^a Department of Primary Care and Population Sciences, Royal Free and University College Medical Schools, Whittington Hospital, London N19 SNF, ^b Department of General Practice, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT

Correspondence to: Dr Jones d.l.jones@ucl.ac.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

As the 20th century draws to a close, outbreaks of hatred between human population groups show no sign of abating and conflicts continue to erupt. Families across the world find themselves forced to leave their homes and seek refuge where it can be found.

Globally, there are 18 million refugees with 230 000 living in the United Kingdom (see box 1).¹ Almost half of these live in London, where 100 000 people are refugees or awaiting confirmation of refugee status.² Asylum seekers come from several countries around the world (see box 2). Many refugees have health problems but experience difficulty having their needs met by the NHS.³ This article explores the challenges that refugees pose for primary care and suggests alternative strategies to address inequalities in the care of refugees.

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	What happens to refugees?

In Britain the geographical distribution of refugees has been influenced by many factors, including local authorities' housing policies.⁴ The refugee population is not . . . [Full text of this article]

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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Increasing health inequalities for refugees

Helen Hogan
bmj.com, 27 Nov 1998 [Full text]

refugees and primary care: consider service use

Caroline Free
bmj.com, 3 Mar 1999 [Full text]

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