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  • Title: Family planning rarely available for refugees.
    Author: Barnett B.
    Journal: Netw Res Triangle Park N C; 1995 Mar; 15(3):4-8. PubMed ID: 12288757.
    Abstract:
    Worldwide, there are an estimated 18 million refugees, people who have crossed international borders to escape political conflict, famine, destruction of their natural environment, or other disasters. There are an additional 24 million displaced individuals, people who left their homes but remain in their own countries. Women and children comprise more than 80% of both groups. Following some major event or series of events, these individuals have typically relocated in large number over a short period of time to an area devoid of the necessary basic facilities to support their rapid influx. International agencies, foreign governments, and nongovernmental organizations usually come forward to provide emergency relief as best they are able. With regard to the delivery of health care, health services for refugees are typically designed to meet emergency needs, such as the provision of clean water, the delivery of adequate food supplies, and the treatment of disease. Family planning is generally not provided, especially to refugees in the early stages of relocation. Reproductive health services during this initial phase are instead usually limited to care for pregnant women. Refugees, however, do have sex. In fact, birth rates in refugee camps are typically higher than they are for the host-country population. Refugees and displaced persons have often undergone some degree of psychological trauma and emotional loss. Families are displaced and separated, and loved ones have died. Those fortunate enough to make it to refugee camps and be restored to a reasonable state of health typically find themselves in limbo, away from their cherished homes, and often mourning the loss of friends, spouses, and/or children. These individuals are going to have sexual intercourse for a number of reasons. Sex relieves the boredom of camp life, especially for young people, some people want to replace children who have died or been separated from the family, women with few or no relatives have sex with men to survive, and people get raped. In the context of so much human loss and confusion, many recent widows and widowers are in need of companionship; newfound friends eventually become sex partners. In the interest of preventing unwanted pregnancies and the transmission of sexually communicated diseases, international organizations now increasingly recommend that the long-term health needs of refugees and displaced persons be addressed. Specifically, it is imperative that reproductive health services, including family planning and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, be made available to these individuals.
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