Access to, Continuity and Coordination of Healthcare for Refugees: Emerging Challenges and Topics for Health Services Research

In light of rising numbers of refugees worldwide, refugee health has gained growing scientific attention. Health research in this field has mainly focused on disease prevalence, social conditions and related health risks. However, the organisation and delivery of healthcare for refugees as an important topic of health services research has been sidelined, despite the inherent challenges of providing effective and high-quality care for this population. A first issue concerns barriers in the access to health services for refugees that arise at different levels of the cascade of healthcare provision. Other issues are the continuity and coordination in healthcare for refugees, who tend to move between locations in unpredictable ways. Healthcare for refugees is to some extent delivered by separate health system structures, in which generic problems of the overall healthcare system are exacerbated.