BACKGROUND About 80% of new tuberculosis cases in Norway occur among immigrants from high incidence countries. On arrival to the country all asylum seekers are screened with Mantoux test and chest x-ray aimed to identify cases of active tuberculosis and, in the case of latent tuberculosis, to offer follow-up or prophylactic treatment.We assessed a national programme for screening, treatment and...

Recourse to a purported ideal of societal homogeneity has become common in the context of the refugee reception crisis – not only in Japan, as Leppold et al report, but also throughout Europe. Calls for societal homogeneity in Europe originate from populist movements as well as from some governments. Often, they go along with reduced social support for refugees and asylum seekers, for example i...

OBJECTIVE To adapt the PTSD and MDE sections of a validated psychiatric diagnostic instrument, we used the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) during an initial health assessment into a primary care facility for asylum seekers. METHOD A 3-step process was carried out. First, items of the original version of the MINI were adapted to the specific context of life of asylum seeke...

Treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in refugees and asylum seekers resettled in high-income countries presents specific challenges. This systematic review examined the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for this group. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of randomised trials, CINAHL, EMBASE, PILOTS, PsycINFO, PubMed and Web of Science up to July 2016. Studies inclu...

This Article surveys the law of LGBT asylum as it has developed over the past fifteen years, first, with the landmark case of Matter of Toboso-Alfonso, which recognized homosexuality as a “particular social group”; second, with the Ninth Circuit’s recent cases adopting a soft immutability standard of identity and expanding asylum protection to transgender individuals; and third, with a discussi...

BACKGROUND A small body of evidence demonstrates the challenges faced by migrant communities living with HIV but has yet to consider in-depth the experience of asylum seekers whose residency status is undetermined. The overall aim of our study was to explore the experiences of those who are both living with HIV and seeking asylum. This paper focuses on the stressors precipitated by the HIV diag...

Armed conflicts and political violence around the globe are forcing increasing numbers to flee their homes and seek refuge in European countries and elsewhere. In this country recent legislation will change the way in which subsistence allowance and accommodation are to be provided, eroding asylum seekers’ former rights, including those intended by national and international law to safeguard th...

BACKGROUND Research into the mental health of refugees has burgeoned in recent times, but there is a dearth of studies focusing specifically on the factors associated with psychiatric distress in asylum-seekers who have not been accorded residency status. METHOD Forty consecutive asylum-seekers attending a community resource centre in Sydney, Australia, were interviewed using structured instr...

Age estimation is useful in forensic investigations to aid in the process of identifying unknown victims as well as living individuals. In many countries age estimation is commonly used to assist immigration authorities in deciding whether refugees or illegal migrants have reached that designated age that separates a juvenile from an adult. This is particularly important for the protection of u...