Enhanced medical assessment strategy for Barawan Somali refugees--Kenya, 1997.

Each year, approximately 100,000 refugees are resettled to the United States. Before resettlement, these refugees undergo medical screening to identify inadmissable conditions (e.g., infectious tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] infection) among individual refugees. This report describes the implementation and results of an enhanced refugee medical assessment strategy among Barawan Somali refugees in Kenya during July 1997. This strategy employs population-based screening for parasitic infections. The findings indicate that, among these refugees, the prevalences of malaria and intestinal parasites were sufficient to warrant pre-embarkation therapy to improve the health of both individuals and the total refugee population. This therapy also may prevent local transmission of parasitic infections in the resettlement communities in the United States.