Meeting the health challenges of resettlement

Citation

Watters, C. (2011), "Meeting the health challenges of resettlement", International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, Vol. 7 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijmhsc.2011.54807aaa.002

Meeting the health challenges of resettlement

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, Volume 7, Issue 1

Much of the literature on migrant health has focussed on the impact of events prior to migrants’ arrival in host countries. This literature has, for example, been concerned with examining the impact of traumatic events in migrants’ home countries and how this impacts on their resettlement experiences. Other studies have examined morbidity among migrant populations, considering, for example, the incidence of diseases such as tuberculosis. While considerable attention has focussed in recent years on the resettlement of migrant populations in host countries, more attention needs to be given to examining the interrelationship between the health problems faced by migrants and their resettlement experiences. Much of the material gathered in this edition makes a welcome contribution to this area and offers practical advice on how to improve the services delivered by health professionals and community organizations.

Miriam Stewart, Edward Shizha, Edward Makwarimba, Denise Spitzer, Ernest N. Khalema, and Christina D. Nsaliwa offer particular insight into the often neglected area of health and social care for migrant seniors. The authors contend that the uniqueness of their research lies in their examination of the perspectives of seniors, service providers, and policy makers. Through engagement with each of these stakeholders, they offer insight into the challenges and barriers of services to immigrant seniors. Adeyinka M. Akinsulure-Smith and Wilma L. Jones offer a complementary contribution to examining the process of working with interpreters in offering psychotherapy to forced migrants. There contribution is practically focussed, offering guidelines on how a therapeutic relationship with interpreters can be achieved. The contribution by Maile O’Hara and Adeyinka M. Akinsulure-Smith provides a vivid and detailed insight into the actual role of a community organization in working with migrants and us such offering a model of good practice.

In the opening contribution, Zhou explores the complex relationship between the experience of resettlement and HIV risk. Zhou challenges some of the contemporary research orientations in this area arguing that:

[…] more attention, in both research and practice, should be given to the intersections between immigrants’ vulnerability to HIV and settlement processes and to holistic approaches that take into account the changing contexts and dynamics of HIV risk.

In so doing, Zhou opens a window on to the interrelationships between research and practice in this vital area.

Charles Watters