The health needs of Syrian refugees in context of social determinants of health: the case of Turkey

Abstract

AIM: This study aims to determine the health needs and access to health services among Syrian refugees. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out between March and September 2022 in a public setting that provides humanitarian aid in Istanbul Province. The sample included 150 participants who met the inclusion criteria. The data were collected through 20-30 -minute face-toface interviews using the Omaha System Problem Classification Scheme and the sociodemographic characteristics questionnaire. All data were transferred to IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Statistics software, version 28.0, for analysis. Descriptive statistics and chi-square significance tests were performed. RESULTS: The result of the analysis revealed that the health problems of Syrian refugees were mostly related to the physiological domain (13/39.3%), followed by the psychosocial domain (9/27.2%), health-related behaviors domain (7/21.2%), and environmental domain (4/12.1%). CONCLUSION: This study highlighted the fact that refugees continue to be vulnerable to social determinants of health. In this context, it is recommended to develop new policies to reduce poverty, increase access to health and other public services, and empower refugees.