A Lost Tribe in the City: Health Status and Needs of African Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Hong Kong

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aut.relation.articlenumber158en_NZ
aut.relation.journalInternational Journal for Equity in Healthen_NZ
aut.relation.volume15en_NZ
aut.researcherHolroyd, Eleanor
dc.contributor.authorWong, WCWen_NZ
dc.contributor.authorCheng, Sen_NZ
dc.contributor.authorHolroyd, Een_NZ
dc.contributor.authorChen, Jen_NZ
dc.contributor.authorLoper, KAen_NZ
dc.contributor.authorTran, Len_NZ
dc.contributor.authorMiu, HYHen_NZ
dc.date.accessioned2020-08-31T02:33:13Z
dc.date.available2020-08-31T02:33:13Z
dc.date.copyright2016en_NZ
dc.date.issued2016en_NZ
dc.description.abstractBackground: Hong Kong's resistance to be a signatory of the 1951 Geneva Convention and lack of domestic policies in this area has resulted in restrictions on access to healthcare amongst asylum seekers and refugees (ASRs). Using social determinants of health framework this study sought to identify health practices, problems and needs of African ASRs in Hong Kong. Methods: A cross-sectional survey comprising of six domains including health status, health-seeking behaviour and social experience targeted at adult African ASRs in Hong Kong was conducted through three local non-governmental organisations between February and April 2013. Outpatient care and inpatient care in the past 12 months were used as proxy measures of general and severe ill health respectively. Associations between the determinants of health factors with general or severe health was explored through logistic regressions. Results: Majority of 374 participants were young, single, educated males having been in Hong Kong for over 5 years. A third of ARS (36.1 %) screened positive for depression. Most reported problems related to basic necessities (64.7-78.6 %) and access to health services (72.2 %). ASRs with relatively less education, health awareness or higher risk behaviours were less likely to have obtained outpatient or inpatient services. African ASRs reporting problems with case officers (aOR = 2.80; 95 % CI = 1.35-5.79) or illness in the past 30 days (aOR = 6.00; 95 % CI = 2.94-12.25) were more likely to report general ill health. Similarly, problems with the case officers (aOR = 3.76; 95 % CI = 1.97-7.18) and self-reported illness in the past 30 days (aOR = 3.32; 95 % CI= 1.68-6.57) were also significantly associated with severe ill health. At the health system level, those who reported experiencing difficulties accessing the medical services in Hong Kong are 3.29 (95 % CI = 1.48-7.31) and 4.12 (95 % CI = 1.73-9.79) times as likely to report general and severe ill health respectively. Conclusion: The host government should have moral and ethical obligations to attend to the health needs of ASRs. Evidently a number of structural and health system factors have significantly impacted the health of African ASRs in Hong Kong. Changes to current policies regarding how African ASRs are handled whilst in Hong Kong but, more immediately, improvements in healthcare access are needed.en_NZ
dc.identifier.citationInt J Equity Health 15, 158 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-016-0451-4
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/s12939-016-0451-4en_NZ
dc.identifier.issn1475-9276en_NZ
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10292/13620
dc.languageengen_NZ
dc.publisherBioMed Central Ltd.en_NZ
dc.relation.urihttps://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-016-0451-4
dc.rights© 2016 The Author(s). Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
dc.rights.accessrightsOpenAccessen_NZ
dc.subjectAccess to healthen_NZ
dc.subjectHealth needsen_NZ
dc.subjectHong Kongen_NZ
dc.subjectHuman rightsen_NZ
dc.subjectRefugeesen_NZ
dc.titleA Lost Tribe in the City: Health Status and Needs of African Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Hong Kongen_NZ
dc.typeJournal Article
pubs.elements-id211521
pubs.organisational-data/AUT
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Health & Environmental Science
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Health & Environmental Science/Clinical Sciences
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Health & Environmental Science/Nursing
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/PBRF
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/PBRF/PBRF Health and Environmental Sciences
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/PBRF/PBRF Health and Environmental Sciences/HH Clinical Sciences 2018 PBRF
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