Evidence Aid bulletin: 30 June 2023
We are pleased to send you Evidence Aid’s June 2023 bulletin. It has been a busy month for Evidence Aid’s with new summaries having been recently added to our evidence collections on topics such as interventions for survivors of torture and health risks in people displaced by disasters. Similarly, this month’s bulletin will highlight some of these recently added summaries; however, we encourage you to take a look at our online resources list for the exhaustive list of new additions.
We hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter, and we thank you for your continued support and reading.
And, as usual, anyone who would like to be notified of the bulletin and/or newsletter’s release, please contact Jane Copsey (info@evidenceaid.org), or also for general questions or comments about our work . Finally, if you like our work and think it is important that we continue through 2023, please consider donating here.
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UNRWA’s role in promoting the health of Palestinian refugees in Jordan
The mandate of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency in the Near East (UNRWA) includes education and health services of registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan and other countries; due to limited funding, the UNRWA faces barriers to the provision of services. To shed a light on UNRWA’s contributions, the authors performed a systematic review which showed that UNRWA’s programmes (e.g. clinics and schools) play a crucial role in improving Palestinian refugees’ health outcomes. Access to UNRWA’s services play a direct role in infant mortality, non-communicable disease management, health-related quality of life, mental/psychological health services, and reproductive health.
Citation: Alduraidi H, et al. UNRWA’s role in promoting health outcomes of Palestinian refugees in Jordan: A systematic literature review. Public Health Nursing. 2021;38(4):692-700.
You can find a full summary in the Health of refugees and asylum seekers collection.
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Interventions for survivors of torture
In this systematic review, the authors aimed to assess the beneficial and adverse effects of psychological, social, and welfare interventions for torture survivors to compare their findings with those reported by active and inactive controls. Nine RCTs were psychological interventions and none provided welfare; no immediate benefits of psychological therapy were noted in comparison. The authors concluded that very low-quality evidence suggests no differences between psychological therapies and controls for immediate effects of PTSD, distress, or quality of life. Narrative exposure therapy (NET) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), were found to confer moderate benefits in reducing stress and PTSD. These findings are particularly relevant as torture is both widespread and possesses broad, long-lasting impacts across physical, psychological, social, and other areas of life.
Citation: Patel N, et al. Psychological, social and welfare interventions for psychological health and well‐being of torture survivors. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2014;(11):CD009317.
You can find a full summary in the Managing mental injuries in disasters collection.
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Health risks in people displaced by disasters
Aiming to better understand both the magnitude and pattern on disasters, affected population, and death, as well as the health outcomes, the authors systematically reviewed studies from 1975-2017. They analysed physical or mental health outcomes and epidemiological measure of association among population displaced by disasters caused by natural hazards in Southeast Asia. The authors found that being displaced from home after a natural disaster is highly associated with poor health outcomes, especially mental health, including fear, PTSD, depression, anxiety and distress. Physical health risks, such as diarrhea, acute respiratory infection, and other infection disasters are also important to consider, although, they are given less attention than mental health. The authors concluded that investigations about vulnerable populations in Southeast Asia, largely due to the impacts of climate change, is becoming increasingly important as disasters grow more severe and frequent.
Citation: Jang S, et al. Systematic Review of Displacement and Health Impact From Disasters Caused by Natural Hazards in Southeast Asia. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2021;15(1):105–14.
You can find a full summary in the Health of refugees and asylum seekers collection.
Thank you very much for reading this month’s bulletin. As a final reminder, anyone who would like to receive these bulletins directly or has questions about our work should contact Jane Copsey (info@evidenceaid.org). And, as a donor-based organization, we appreciate your continued support. If you think our work is important, please consider donating here.