Assessing the health of persons experiencing forced migration: Current practices for health service organisations

Abstract

This chapter looks at the current evidence and practice of health assessments amongst persons, who experienced forced migration, including asylum seekers and refugees. It places health assessments into its historical context and outlines national and international frameworks relevant to these. The main body of the chapter reviews the current practice in health assessments alongside the policy framework and evidence and provides specific examples from countries. Doing so, it also outlines some of the ethical questions and elaborates on issues around healthcare access in the receiving state, and it delineates, where room for improvement remains, particularly around linkage to care. Finally, the chapter demonstrates that significant gaps remain regarding research evidence, including assessment of cost and benefits of health assessments in different contexts.