Infectious disease screening outcomes and reducing barriers to care for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children: a single-centre retrospective clinical analysis
Infectious disease screening outcomes and reducing barriers to care for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children: a single-centre retrospective clinical analysis
Blog Article
Objective Evaluate the Unity Clinic’s infectious disease screening programme for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), calculate rates of infection and identify further health needs.Design Retrospective audit of electronic patient data.Setting and patients UASC who attended the valhalla axys Unity Clinic between 1 November 2019 and 22 March 2022.
Main outcome measures Baseline demographics, social, mental health and journey details, infection screening and investigation results.Results 155 UASC were reviewed: 89% (138 of 155) male, median age 17 years (IQR 16–17).Most frequent countries of origin were Sudan, Eritrea and Afghanistan.
Median duration of travel to the UK (n=79) was 2 years (IQR 0.5–4); 35.6% (47 of 132) arrived by boat and 54.
5% (72 of 132) by road.44.8% (69 of 154) had one or more positive infection screening results: 22.
7% (35 of 154) and 1.3% (2 of 154) positive for latent and active tuberculosis, respectively; 4.6% (7 of 152) chronic active lightemupsequences.com hepatitis B and 17.
1% (26 of 152) for past infection; 1.3% (2 of 154) for HIV; 13.0% (19 of 146) for Strongyloides.
There were three cases of syphilis (n=152; 2.0%) and one chlamydia (n=148; 0.7%)—none of whom disclosed prior sexual activity during screening.
39.6% (61 of 154) and 27.9% (43/154) reported disturbances to mood or sleep, respectively.
55.2% (85 of 154) disclosed traumatic incidents during and/or prior to their journey, including physical and sexual assault.Conclusions The Unity Clinic provides a thorough infectious disease screening service for UASC following national guidance.
Results highlight the need for universal, non-judgemental screening for sexually transmitted infections, as targeted screening would not identify positive cases.High rates of well-being issues and previous abuse emphasise the need for multidisciplinary, collaborative approaches to care.