Citation

Pimentel Walker AP, Sanga N, Gonzalez Benson O, Yoshihama M. Health Secur. 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/hs.2021.0050

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Refugees are marginalized groups of people who have experienced multiple traumas and barriers—some due to their prior experiences and many due to the conditions in their new host country.1 The disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities of color in the United States further compounds the precarity of refugee communities.2 Existing formal institutional structures often ignore the specific needs faced by refugee communities.3 Refugee-led community organizations (RCOs) play a critical role in reaching refugee communities and helping them in their resettlement process because they are grounded in the volunteer work of resettled refugees themselves.4 Our experience working with RCOs during the pandemic highlighted the indispensable role they play in providing a protective effect during the pandemic by helping refugee communities weather pandemic-related shocks, navigate the public benefits systems, access reliable healthcare information through culturally and linguistically appropriate means, and advocate for health security. We also witnessed the institutional negligence and racism experienced by RCOs while working with health systems to assist their communities during the pandemic. By amplifying RCO voices, our struggling health systems can identify reliable and highly motivated community partners who will make a critical difference in mitigating health risks on the ground. The US healthcare system needs to proactively engage with community-based organizations in refugee communities to respond effectively to public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic.

For over 3 years, we conducted participatory action research with refugee groups in a medium-sized midwestern US city.5 This commentary focuses on what we learned about community resilience and action in response to the pandemic by closely following the work of 3 RCOs: 2 Congolese and 1 Bhutanese ...

Language: en

Keywords

COVID-19; Community participation; Health literacy; Institutional racism; Refugee organizations; Risk communication