Failure to tackle refugees' health needs increases risk of exclusion

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7567.517-b

BMJ 2006;333:517 (9 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7567.517-b

News roundup

Failure to tackle refugees’ health needs increases risk of exclusion

London Sara de Albornoz

The lack of GPs’ clinics willing to deal with refugees in London is one of several factors threatening community relations and increasing the risk of social exclusion, warned Angela Burnett speaking at a conference last week.

Dr Burnett, a GP from east London, was addressing the third annual international mental health conference—“People on the move”—in London, which highlighted the consequences for mental health of displacement and conflict.

One in 300 people in the United Kingdom are of refugee background, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In London it is as high as one in 20, according to the Greater London Authority.

Asylum seekers are forbidden to work in the UK unless applications take longer than one year to process. Unemployment, poverty, and stigma have a profound effect on their mental health. But entitlement to health services is limited, Dr Burnett said.

Under new . . . [Full text of this article]

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