Finding a model of care for child immigrants

A recent surge in minors crossing on their own from Mexico into the United States has brought renewed interest in their health and how physicians can best care for them. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that 23,553 minors were apprehended while crossing the border from Oct. 1, 2015, to March 1, 2016, an increase of 89 percent from the same period a year earlier. Though far smaller than the high tide of crossings in 2014, the surge raises some of the same concerns that surfaced then. A special set of health needs Unaccompanied alien children—“UACs” in the official jargon—have unique physical and mental health needs, according to a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the experience of physicians working with immigrant children. “Unaccompanied children have often faced trauma prior to, during and/or after arriving to the United States,” said Julie Linton MD, chairperson of the Immigrant Health Special Interest Group of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Trauma-informed care is essential as they access health services.” Border crossings by unaccompanied minors, most of them from Central America, reached a peak in 2014, when 68,500 were apprehended at the border. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported clusters of pneumonia and influenza at the time in temporary shelters in the Southwest. Little public health hazard Yet early warnings of a substantial health threat to the wider community seem to have been unfounded. Inf...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news