New Surveillance System Improves Migration and Resettlement Process

Every year, about 50,000 refugees resettle to the United States under the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). The resettlement process involves U.S government agencies including the Department of Homeland SecurityExternal
Five days prior to departure, refugees go through pre–departure surveillance in transit centers to identify and treat any conditions that might have been missed during the initial medical screening. Pre-departure surveillance in transit centers was introduced following interruption of departures for U.S.-bound refugees residing in Kenya due to infectious diseases such as cholera, measles and chickenpox. The system initially piloted in Kenya was paper based and meant data were inconsistently collected and rarely analyzed to enable timely action. This often resulted in travel delays for these refugees until their health condition was resolved and the possibility of transmission of disease to other refugees was not considered a risk.
To improve pre-departure surveillance, CDC Kenya’s DGMQ in collaboration with the International Organization for MigrationExternal