Our Hazara communities
Refugees in Australia often have complex physical and psychological health needs, which can be from pre-arrival, arrival and post-arrival experiences.
The Murray PHN region is home to several different groups of refugees, including Hazara refugees from Afghanistan.
The aim of this project has been to explore the health experiences and needs of Hazara people in the Murray PHN catchment, and to consider the barriers and opportunities for them to access health services.
The health and health service experiences of our Hazara communities
What we learned
Meetings were held with more than 250 community members and leaders, and 70 people participated in one-on-one interviews. We also met with community health service providers and held interviews with health service staff. The main issues affecting the health and wellbeing of the Hazara population were identified in the following areas:
- Mental health
- Family concerns
- Service access
- General health.
Learn more
Click here to read the short report (6 pages)
Click here to read the long report (35 pages)
Resources for health services/professionals
- The Australian Refugee Health Practice Guide: can be used by doctors, nurses and other primary care providers to inform on-arrival and ongoing health care for people from refugee backgrounds, including people seeking asylum.
- Embrace: multicultural information on mental health including policies, best practice, and personal stories. It also includes the Framework for Mental Health in Multicultural Australia.
- Victorian Transcultural Mental Health: provides organisational development, community engagement, workforce education and support, and research and evaluation.
For more information on other available resources, click here.
Resources for both health services and individuals
- Victorian Refugee Health Network: provides support to the health, settlement and community sector by convening working groups, developing resources, hosting forums, completing reviews of available literature, providing specialist advice and participating in practice-related research projects.
- Health Translations provides direct links to reliable translated health and wellbeing resources produced in Australia.
- The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture Inc. (also known as Foundation House): provides services to advance the health, wellbeing and human rights of people of refugee backgrounds in Victoria who have experienced torture or other traumatic events in their country of origin or while fleeing those countries and provide services in partnership with other agencies in Bendigo, Mildura, Shepparton and Swan Hill.
- NSW Refugee Health Service: provides early health assessments and health promotion programs for refugees, and educates health service providers, acts as a link between agencies working with refugees and health services, provides medical assessments and referrals through GP clinics and conducts research.
Refugee health stories, research and data
- Murray PHN 2022-2025 Health Needs Assessment
- Refugee Council of Australia: Why Hazaras are in danger in Afghanistan: Expert opinion - 13/11/2018
- ABC life: What it's like being the first refugee from your community to move to Bendigo - 3/7/2019
- Link Health and Community: Afghan Community Health and Wellbeing Needs Assessment - July 2016
- Australian journal of primary health: Importance of community engagement in primary health care: the case of Afghan refugees - 8/8/2014
- Australian Psychological Society: Exploring the predictors and mediators of personal wellbeing for young Hazaras with refugee backgrounds in Australia - 24/7/2017
- International Journal of Population Health Research: Resettlement Experiences of Afghan Hazara Female Adolescents: A Case Study from Melbourne, Australia - 18/7/2011
Page last updated 5 April 2023