Community health education in refugee camps

The importance of developing and maintaining health education programs in refugee camps, while highlighting special constraints, is discussed. A literature review, interviews with organizations sending international health workers to refugee communities, and a survey of refugees, national and international health workers were all carried out to ascertain the interest in, and practice of health promotion, information and communication. The study revealed that there is very little health education being undertaken in refugee camps and that there is little consensus as to what health education is. There also is a lack of community involvement and most of those workers involved in health neither have the training nor feel they often have the time to devote to health education, more interested as they are in curative medicine. The health policies of national and international organizations appear to support but not define, integrate or evaluate the practice of health education in refugee camps. This is despite a strong consensus that health education is an essential component of refugee community health care. Field experience, discussions, and the review also highlighted the need for the advocacy of the health needs and problems of refugees at an international level.