Analyzing Healthcare Challenges Facing Refugees and Asylum Seekers

This essay delves into the multifaceted healthcare challenges encountered by refugees and asylum seekers, highlighting how their access to healthcare is compromised by various factors. It emphasizes that health access is fundamental for positive health outcomes but is often hindered by inclusive policies, language and cultural barriers, financial limitations, and legal restrictions. Refugees and asylum seekers frequently face health risks during sea voyages and endure overcrowded conditions with limited access to essential resources like food, water, and sanitation. The essay further explores how adjusting to new healthcare systems poses additional challenges, particularly communication barriers due to language differences, which affect all stages of healthcare access, from scheduling appointments to emergency care. Cultural beliefs also play a significant role, impacting the utilization of healthcare systems and medical compliance. Moreover, structural barriers like transportation, insurance, and medical expenses further impede refugees' access to healthcare services, leading to long waiting times and compromised health outcomes.

Healthcare challenges facing refugees and asylum seekers
Health care access to refugees is fundamental in attaining positive health and often
encompasses various dimensions based on available capital and health care systems,
(Levesque, Harris & Russell, 2013). Refugees and asylum seekers experience health
exposures which compromise its access. Access to health is often exacerbated on various
reasons which include inclusive policies, language barriers and cultural barriers, financial
inadequacies and often restrictions legal status, (WHO, 2010). Moreover apart from health
care risks associated, refugees experience sea voyages while undertaking to flee persecutions
(UNCHR, 2016), further refugees and asylum seekers often experience protracted conditions
of overcrowding, food insecurity, poor access to water and sanitation services which often
compromises their health status tremendously, (Hoffstaedster, 2014; Wake & Cheung, 2016).
Further, compounding these health challenges, resettled refugees access to health care,
often depends on the ability to adjust to health care systems. Healthcare challenges such as
language barriers depict communication barriers which hinder access to health care services.
Language affects a cross-section of all stages of health care access. Ability to communicate is
critical in scheduling for treatment process and hinders healthcare provision during
emergencies. Cultural barriers do exist as a common significant challenge in health care
access. Cultural beliefs impact on utilization of health care system, medical compliance,
(Mendenhall, Kelleher, Baird & Doherty, 2008) and further effect on the explanation of
causes of health illness, (Fadiman, 1998). Additionally, structural barriers do exist in access,
logistics, transportation, insurance, and medical expenses face refugees in accessing health
care services. Some of the refugees often face long waiting time to receive health cover
insurance affecting access to health care. Thus it is critical to note that there various barriers
facing refugees in accessing health care services.

Healthcare challenges facing refugees and asylum seekers
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