In their new communities in America, USCRI empowers and educates refugees and immigrants to promote better healthcare systems.

Washington — The United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) is pleased to announce the availability of its health promotion toolkit in Arabic for use by Arabic-speaking refugees and immigrants nation wide.

Even though health information and services are readily available in America, refugees and immigrants find themselves daunted by an unfamiliar and extremely complex health system.  In addition, they face numerous cultural and communication barriers which prevent understanding and accessing the health care they needed.

The USCRI health toolkit is culturally appropriate and is intended to support health professionals, health promoters, ESL teachers, and resettlement case managers in assisting refugees and immigrants navigate the health system.  The toolkit aims to reduce the health disparities among the Vietnamese refugee population and native born populations in America.

 The USCRI health toolkit is designed to educate refugees and immigrants to become proactive health consumers and promoters of healthy habits in their communities.

The toolkit includes information on:

• Communicable diseases

• Respiratory diseases

• Nutrition related diseases

• Maternal and child health

• Mental health

• Health care access

• General health

• Resources

The USCRI health toolkit is also available on the USCRI web site: www.refugees.org/hltoolkit

The Development and production of USCRI health toolkit has been made possible with funding from the Office of Refugees Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services.