Page 60 - Human Rights

Faculty of Nursing
Adult care Nursing Department

In many refugee camps in Africa, interruptions in the food provision of the World Food

Programmed or others have meant that many thousands of refugees are facing severe

malnutrition.

Along the Thai/Myanmar border, Burmese migrant workers and asylum seekers/refugees living
outside refugee camps often have poor access to health care in Thailand.

Although those migrants who have registered for an official work permit in principle are eligible

to receive primary health care at public health clinics for 30 baht (less than one US dollar), they
often choose to pay for private medical care instead, citing discrimination by Thai health workers.

Burmese living in refugee camps near the Thai Myanmar border generally have very good health

care, as a result of the presence of several international aid agencies there.

In some areas of the border, small clinics have been set up by both international and Burmese
NGOs to serve this at-risk population.

Burmese in Thailand are also more likely to have communicable diseases such as malaria and

tuberculosis, partly because of the lack of medical care across the border.

As frontline health care professionals, nurses frequently find themselves treating recently arrived
asylum seekers and refugees.

Due to language differences and differing cultural norms, nurses may feel themselves unable to

offer adequate care.

Governments should make provisions available for transcultural health care, such as translated
health information targeted to the particular needs of asylum seekers, and on-site interpreters.

In some countries, asylum seekers can either move of their own accord or be moved by the

authorities between accommodation sites; therefore, innovations such as hand-held medical
records which patients can carry with them can also assist nurses and other carers.

57 Academic Year 2025/2026