Meeting health needs of asylum seekers

BMJ 1999;318:671 ( 6 March )

Letters

Meeting health needs of asylum seekers

White paper will make access to health care more difficult

Practical approaches can make care easier

White paper will make access to health care more difficult

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

EDITOR $---$ Jones and Gill outline the barriers currently affecting the ability of primary care to decrease the burden of ill healthcarried by refugees.¹ Primary care alone will not be able toaddress the complex health needs of this group. Indeed, the authorscall for the institution of a comprehensive national strategy.The government's recent white paper on immigration and asylumlays out a strategic approach to the processing of asylum claimsand the settlement of refugees in this country.² Unfortunately,no reference is made to improving their health. In fact, the whitepaper in many ways contradicts the government's commitment toreducing health inequalities set out in Our Healthier Nation.³

If the white paper's suggestions are implemented refugees entering the United Kingdom are likely to be dispersed widely aroundthe country and will have no access to cash based benefits. Theirincreased isolation and poverty will lead . . . [Full text of this article]