Establishment of Centers of Excellence in Refugee Health

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The CDC's Division for Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ) is focused on improving the health among immigrants and refugees through public health partnerships, science, and response. Every year, approximately 70,000 refugees and 400,000 immigrants resettle to the U.S. from overseas. Refugees are particularly vulnerable populations, marginalized from public health surveillance, preventive treatment and health care in their home countries and countries of temporary asylum. They have complex health care issues, such as low baseline vaccination rates and high rates of infectious diseases,including tuberculosis, malaria, and intestinal parasites.DGMQ is looking for new approaches to reach out to these populations to study and improve healthcare needs of refugee and immigrant populations. Refugees are particularly vulnerable populations, marginalized from public health surveillance, preventive treatment and health care in their home countries and countries of temporary asylum. The complexion of refugee populations are dynamic and change over time. Reporting of health conditions in refugees and immigrants reported after arrival in the U.S. is limited to the reportable conditions specified by state and federal requirements. The identification of these conditions as belonging to refugees or immigrants is not reported. Consequently, there is little data to evaluate the effectiveness and quality of how the refugee and immigrant populations are examined pre-arrival and post arrival for follow up. This funding opportunity will help create Centers of Excellence in refugee and/or immigrant health. These centers will provide expertise in the diverse area of dealing with this population and will build upon existing infrastructure and will collaborate with partners focusing on these vulnerable populations.

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