Repository logo
 

The Institute for Global Health and Development

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/9

Browse

Start date: 2024Subject: search.filters.subject.Integration

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Integrating healthcare financing for refugees into national health systems: findings from a rapid review of the literature
    (Elsevier, 2025-10-16) Bertone, Maria Paola; Palmer, Natasha; Witter, Sophie
    As the number of refugees increases and displacement becomes protracted, providing equitable healthcare in sustainable ways is increasingly challenging. The Global Compact for Refugees calls for greater inclusion of refugees in national health systems. However, evidence is limited on the most suitable approaches to achieve integration, including from a health financing perspective. This study reviewed normative and empirical literatures on health financing for refugees, reflecting on existing arrangements, and their level of integration with national health systems. A total of 52 documents were reviewed following a purposeful search of grey and published literature. Data were analysed according to core health financing sub-functions as defined by the WHO, specifically reflecting on pathways and approaches to integration for each. The analysis found that challenges remains in relation to funding for refugee healthcare, and areas of focus concern fair burden-sharing and engagement of development funders. Fund pooling proves to be a potential entry point for integration to reduce fragmentation in health financing through use of existing mechanisms (budgets or social health insurance schemes), despite challenges highlighted in the empirical literature. Fewer documents look at purchasing and benefit packages, and they highlight the importance of tailoring those to the specific needs of refugees. In relation to equity and efficiency, integration is often assumed to lead to improvements, but evidence is limited and issues related to the underlying weaknesses of the national health system might hamper the benefits of integration. Overall, the review findings support the development of hypotheses as to how best support health financing integration processes, and highlight areas for further research.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Refugee integration in national health systems of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): evidence synthesis and future research agenda
    (Elsevier, 2025-09-12) Olabi, Amina; Palmer, Natasha; Bertone, Maria Paola; Loffreda, Giulia; Bou-Orm, Ibrahim; Sempé, Lucas; Vera Espinoza, Marcia; Dakessian, Arek; Kadetz, Paul; Ager, Alastair; Witter, Sophie
    This paper reviews evidence on healthcare responses for refugees, documenting the different approaches and their effectiveness and impact in particular in relation to supporting integrating refugees into national health systems. The review adopted a purposeful, iterative approach, utilizing electronic databases, grey literature, and reference lists from relevant studies. A total of 167 studies, primarily from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), focusing on refugees and forcibly displaced persons with empirical data, were included. The review highlights a substantial literature on refugee health and healthcare access, with well-covered areas including delivery models, access barriers, gaps in coverage, and specific health services such as psychosocial care, non-communicable diseases, mental health, and maternal and child health. However, less attention is given to integration models, health system responses, and their impact on system resilience and social cohesion. Few studies examine the costs, feasibility, or sustainability of integration models, and little research focuses on health system perspectives or comparative analyses. Moreover, the host health system's status, capacity, and needs are often underexplored. Some countries are particularly well-represented in studies, e.g. Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Uganda. There is however a paucity of data that would provide the basis for more quantitative or analytical evaluation from a systems perspective. This gap highlights the need for further research on effective integration models, their operational aspects, and their long-term impact on local health systems' resilience and sustainability. To support this research agenda, we propose a conceptual framework to provide analytic guidance for future research on healthcare responses for refugees and health system integration.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Editorial: The role of faith in the mental health and integration of forcibly displaced populations
    (Frontiers Media S.A., 2025-07-08) Rayes, Diana; Robinson, Courtland; Ahmad, Ayesha; Ager, Alastair
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    ‘At some points you feel awful because you are going to start again’: The ambiguous role of education in highly skilled refugee women’s integration experiences
    (SAGE, 2024-09-25) Baillot, Helen; Fernandes, Marcus
    In refugee and migration studies, education has been situated as both a marker of integration and a facilitator of progress in other domains. This paper draws on the accounts of three highly skilled women who have experienced forced migration to highlight some of the ambiguities of education’s role in pathways to social and economic inclusion. A case study approach allows for a detailed and contextual exploration of how intersections of age, caring responsibilities and immigration status influence women’s ability to engage with education. Participants’ accounts confirm that accessing desired and appropriate educational provision can propel people towards their longer-term goals. However, provision that is inaccessible or perceived to be below women’s skill levels can be experienced as exclusionary and demoralising, with attendant impact on women’s perceptions of integration and hopes for the future. Women deploy several strategies to overcome these obstacles, including leveraging existing social connections and re-evaluating their future career pathways. Yet these strategies are not always fully successful. Our findings point towards the need for improved provision for adult refugees and a concerted effort by educational institutions to tackle continuing systemic barriers to education.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Walking a tightrope between policy and scholarship: reflections on integration principles in a hostile environment
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2024-07-26) Phillimore, Jenny; Morrice, Linda; Strang, Alison
    The term ‘integration’ has received considerable academic attention, much of it critical. Yet it continues to be widely used in policy and practice to capture the processes of change that occur following migration from one country to another. In an environment of increasing hostility and anti-migrant sentiment, we outline the process of working with the UK Home Office and a wide range of stakeholders to revise the original Home Office Indicators of Integration framework [Ager and Strang (2008). “Understanding Integration: A Conceptual Framework.” Journal of Refugee Studies 21: 166–191]. We directly engage with some of the key criticisms of integration by offering four core, co-developed principles: shared responsibility, context, multi-dimensionality and multi-directionality. We believe these principles cut through the institutional cultural bias of policymakers and offer a new framework for thinking about integration policy, practice and scholarship. Our work underlines the importance of scholars taking the opportunity to engage with policy and to present scientific evidence as a mechanism to confront hostile immigration practices and address the social injustices that usually accompany migration.