Using a mobile application to detect health needs among children and adolescents who are newly arrived migrants in Europe

Abstract

Background Unprecedented numbers of migrants have arrived in Europe, including children and adolescents. Little is known about their unique health needs. Prospective data collection has been sparse. Mobile applications may help to facilitate global health surveillance. Methods A pre-validated survey instrument was converted into a mobile application covering self-reported exposures and disruptions of healthcare before/during migration, communicable and non-communicable diseases. Participation was voluntary, anonymous and confidential. Results Data were obtained from 405 migrant children and adolescents in Berlin, Germany, between 7 October 2015 and 15 March 2016 (median age 19 years, range: 1–24; 80.7% males) with the majority from Syria (62.5%), Afghanistan (9.1%) and Iraq (8.2%). In total, 55% were without family, 64% registered asylum-seekers with access to healthcare; 54% had seen a doctor since arrival, with colds or respiratory complaints (37.5 and 13.6%), followed by pain (26.7%) gastrointestinal (12.4%) and skin problems (11.1%). Underlying conditions were reported in 15.6%, predominantly asthma. Overall, 73% reported being up-to date on immunizations, but only 22% held a vaccination record with 46.4% having lost it during migration. Conclusions The lack of medical and immunization records among newly arrived migrants provides a challenge to healthcare systems. Mobile applications offer rapid screening tools in times of crisis, helping stakeholders with timely information.

Establishment and associated factors of health records among young Chinese migrants

“…Concurrently, research has shown that younger migrants are most likely to experience a decline in health after migration [ 4 ]. Furthermore, they are much less likely to be aware of their conditions, suffer from unnoticed high health risks leading to their vulnerability to long-term health problems [ 5 ], and find it impossible to seek medical attention by themselves [ 6 ]. A worrying finding is that migration characteristics and inattention to health result in the vulnerability of young migrants to ill health.…”

The role of tuberculosis control institutes in delivering tuberculosis information to domestic migrants in China: A multi-level analysis of a nationwide cross-sectional survey

“…It is suggested that more efforts are focused on delivering TB information among the migrant populations by targeting their mobile characteristics. Cellular communication in particular appears to be the most effective way to target them (Borsari et al, 2018;Rath et al, 2018;Vu et al, 2016). While the percentages calculated in the present research and in the research conducted by others (37.6% and 46.3%) may appear alarming for TB control, caution is advised, as further research is needed to assess the scale and speed of TB awareness over time.…”

eHealth Tools That Assess and Track Health and Well-being in Children and Young People: Systematic Review

“…Digital devices were implemented across 3 main settings: outpatient health clinics (12/39, 31%), hospitals (ie, inpatient units and emergency departments; 14/39, 36%), and community outreach (ie, community spaces that were not formal health clinics; 10/39, 26%) or a combination of these settings (3/39, 8%). [53] Community outreach English and Arabic Urban Gaza 6-18 years Hashemi et al, 2017 [7] Outpatient health clinic Dutch Urban (55%) and rural (45%) Netherlands 10-19 years Heida et al, 2018 [62] Outpatient health clinic English Urban United States 0-21 years Hussey and Flynn, 2019 [41] Outpatient health clinic English Urban (85%) and rural (15%) Australia 16-24 years Iorfino et al, 2017 [8] Hospital, outpatient health clinic, and community outreach Korean Urban South Korea 15-19 years Jeong et al, 2020 [40] Community outreach English NR United States 3-22 years Jiam et al, 2017 [66] Hospital English Urban (50%) and rural (50%) United States 6-14 years Kassam-Adams et al, 2019 [42] Community outreach NR NR South Korea 0-5 years Kim et al, 2019 [60] Hospital Mandarin Urban China 1-18 years Li et al, 2019 [63] Outpatient health clinic and community outreach English Urban Australia 5-12 years March et al, 2018 [17] Community outreach Lusoga and English Rural Uganda 0-7 days Matin et al, 2020 [59] Hospital English NR United States 0-2 months McCulloh et al, 2018 [49] Community outreach Twi Urban Ghana 0-5 years Mohammed et al, 2018 [9] Hospital NR Urban Iran 0-9 days Padidar et al, 2019 [64] Community outreach Arab, Farsi, and Russian NR Germany 0-24 years Rath et al, 2018 [45] Hospital NR Urban Germany and Greece 0-5 years Rath et al, 2019 [65] Setting Language used in the device Locality a Country Age range of children Study Outpatient health clinic English Urban (50%) and rural (50%) Australia 14-24 years Reid et al, 2011 [43] Hospital and outpatient health clinic Hindi, Gujarati, and English Urban (85%) and rural (15%) India 0-2 years Singh et al, 2017 [51] Hospital Swedish Urban (50%) and rural (50%) Sweden 6-13 years Svedberg et al, 2019 [46] Outpatient health clinic English NR New Zealand 13-14 years Thabrew et al, 2019 [44] Community outreach 11 languages NR 10 countries 0-17 years Thabtah, 2018 [54] Outpatient health clinic English Urban United States 12-18 years Thompson et al, 2016 [47] Community outreach English Rural Uganda and United States…”

“…Of the 23% (9/39) of studies that solely assessed mental health, 33% (3/9) focused on suicide prevention [8,39,40], 22% (2/9) focused on early intervention and prevention of mental illness [7,17], and 44% (4/9) focused on multidimensional assessment or management of mental health symptoms [41][42][43][44]. Of the 23% (9/39) of studies that solely assessed general health, 22% (2/9) focused on symptom detection and monitoring [9,45], 22% (2/9) provided a platform for patients to view and monitor their health information [46,47], 33% (3/9) focused on digitalized tracking of clinical decision-making [19,48,49], and 22% (2/9) were primarily for assessment [50,51].…”