Health needs of a large cohort of newly arrived Afghan evacuee children following arrival in the United States.

Abstract

Objective: In 2021, approximately 82,000 Afghan civilians were emergently evacuated to the United States (US). Almost half of them were children. This study describes the healthcare needs of all evacuee children referred for urgent or emergent care in two large health systems in the months following the evacuation, highlighting important considerations for emergency response in pediatric evacuee populations.

Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study of all Afghan evacuee children referred for care at an urban quaternary care children's hospital and an affiliated community hospital system between August 2021 and February 2022. Both were located near a military base that served as a temporary residential facility for evacuees immediately after their arrival in the US. Data were abstracted into a secure online database, and descriptive statistics were examined to identify trends in health status, diagnoses, and utilization.

Results: We identified 477 children and 681 individual encounters. Fifty-two children (10.9 percent) were medically complex and accounted for 30.1 percent of all visits. The most common diagnoses were traumatic injuries (93, 13.7 percent), respiratory -illnesses (70, 10.3 percent), and complex chronic diseases (53, 7.8 percent). Proper patient identification, language access, and cultural engagement were key challenges.

Conclusion: Emergency response teams should be prepared to encounter a diverse range of common and increasingly complex pediatric health needs in disasters. Strategies such as employing cultural liaisons, expanding the availability of language services, and issuing standardized identification documents should be implemented.