Refugee Health

Head over to our project signup form to get involved in TIME’s efforts towards improving Refugee Health!

Background

As defined by the United Nations, a refugee is a person who: “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country, or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it”.
An asylum-seeker is someone who says that he/she is a refugee, but whose claim has not yet been definitively evaluated. If they are not judged through proper procedures not to be refugees or in need of international protection, they can be sent back to their home countries.
At the beginning of 2009, the Office for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated there were 10.5 million refugees worldwide, down 8% from 2008. In addition to this, an estimated 4.7 million refugees are looked after under the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which was set up to care for diplaced Palestinians. More than half the refugees under UNHCR are in Asia and 22% in Africa, living under conditions varying from well-established camps to living in the open.
At January 2009, the UNHCR estimated that there were 20,919 refugees living in Australia.
Refugees settling in Queensland come from a wide variety of countries but most recently have arrived from a range of African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries.
Refugees present with a wide variety of health conditions related to their refugee experience (for example, torture and trauma issues) and related to their experience living in a refugee camp (for example, disease acquired due to lack of clean drinking water, malnourishment and chronic illness resulting from lack of access to quality health care service).

TIME’S Refugee Health Project

For several years now, TIME members have been involved in refugee health issues in Brisbane in several ways.

The long term objectives of the project are:

To raise awareness about refugee health issues among the UQ community
To build relationships with refugee communities in Queensland through volunteering with the Multicultural Development Association (MDA)
To equip UQ medical students with skills to better address refugee health issues.

Activities in 2010

Volunteering with MDA

The Multicultural Development Association (MDA) was established in May 1998 to promote multiculturalism and act as a strategic mechanism for the empowerment of people from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds through a range of community development, system advocacy, education and training, and through a range of service delivery activities.

Since 2009, TIME students have participated in MDA’s volunteer program. The aim of the program is to offer a warm welcome to refugees and help them settle into their homes and community. Volunteers are placed with a family and then visit on a regular basis, perhaps once per week, for a period of around six months. Volunteers assist a few hours per week or fortnight with following activities:

Companionship and friendly support;
Orientation to the home, garden and local neighbourhood;
How to use public transport to link into services and the community;
Shopping assistance;
Social and recreational activities;
Accompany to medical and other appointments;
Practice English and conversation skills;
Mentoring;
Volunteers can also assist with office, administrative, and project work.

MDA provides training to volunteers then assigns each to a family. On 15 May 2010 several TIME members underwent MDA training to become volunteers.

World Refugee Festival (27 June 2010)

Organised by MDA, the World Refugee Day Community Festival showcases the diversity and talent of refugee communities across Brisbane. The day is full of traditional and contemporary music and dance, visual arts and crafts, delicious food, handicrafts, soccer and volleyball matches, amusement rides and kids activities, and workshops.

As well as being a fun event and a great way to learn about refugee health issues, TIME students can volunteer on the day through MDA.

Refugee Health Seminar (6 May 2010)

The first of TIME’s seminar series, TIME members attended the seminar on 6 May to hear two inspirational speakers:

Dr. Megan Evans; the Senior Medical Officer for Refugee Health Queensland
Mr. Bobby Whitfield; a former refugee; the president of the QLD African Community Council & the Refugee Council of Australia