Doctoral Dissertation Research: Sociopolitical Interaction and Health Outcomes in Refugee-Hosting Communities

这篇博士论文研究改进奖考察了长期难民定居地区的健康影响。建立和维持难民定居点的进程对当地的自然和社会景观都有重大影响，因此不仅对难民有影响，而且对生活在难民被迫定居地区的人也有影响。该项目将具体考虑难民社区及其邻居的健康结果，并阐明建立难民营所需的政治行动与这些行动的结果之间的关系，这些行动与健康和死亡率有关。该项目将审议乌干达西部刚果难民社区的情况，以调查这一问题。调查人员将对研究地区诊所1992-2012年的流行病学监测数据进行分析，以确定重点人群的发病率和趋势。调查人员还将对难民、他们的当地邻居和难民营管理当局的代表进行家庭调查、焦点小组和半结构化访谈，以了解难民营定居的当地政治进程。这一项目将提供流行病学信息，将对参与向难民地区提供人道主义援助的团体有用。它将产生的调查结果有可能通知各国政府和人道主义援助组织，包括来自美国、联合国和相关非政府组织的组织。此外，该项目将有助于正在进行的关于区域和全球难民地位和待遇的辩论。在世界范围内，暴力冲突继续使数百万人流离失所，其中许多人在靠近冲突地区的贫困地区岌岌可危地生存。流离失所者和他们生活在一起的人的健康和福祉都受到这一进程的影响，这项调查将阐明如何改善这些社区的结果。作为博士论文研究改进(DDRI)奖，该项目将为有前途的学生研究人员提供关键的职业支持。

This Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award examines the health implications in a region of long-term refugee settlement. The process of creating and maintaining refugee settlements has a significant impact on local landscapes, both physical and social, and therefore has implications not only for refugees, but for also for the people who live in the areas where refugees have been forced to settle. This project will specifically consider the health outcomes of refugee communities and their neighbors, as well as illuminate the relationship between the political acts needed to create refugee camps and the outcome of those acts as related to health and mortality. This project will consider the case of Congolese refugee communities in western Uganda to investigate this issue. The investigators will conduct an analysis of epidemiologic surveillance data for 1992-2012 from clinics in the study area to identify morbidity rates and trends for key populations. The investigators will also conduct a household survey, focus groups and semi-structured interviews with refugees, their local neighbors, and representatives from the authorities that run the camps in order to understand the local political process of refugee camp settlements.This project will contribute epidemiologic information that will be of use to groups involved in providing humanitarian aid in refugee areas. It will produce findings that have the potential to inform governments and humanitarian aid organizations including those from the United States, the United Nations, and relevant non-governmental organizations. Furthermore, the project will contribute to the ongoing debate about the status and treatment of refugees regionally and globally. Worldwide, violent conflicts continue to displace millions of people, many of whom subsist precariously in poor places near conflict zones. Both the health and wellbeing of the displaced and those they come to live among are impacted by this process and this investigation will shed lights on ways to improve the outcomes of these communities. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement (DDRI) award this project will provide critical career support to a promising student researcher.