Asylum Seekers Alcohol and Drugs Abuse. A Public Health Dilemma?

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Social Work, grade: 1,3, University of Applied Sciences North Rhine-Westphalia Köln (Paderborn), language: English, abstract: Due to war and destruction, many Asylum seekers and refugees have had to leave their homes in recent years and have sought protection in European countries. In 2015 and 2016 more than one million people applied for asylum in Germany. This, in turn, has exposed an existing major challenge with the health care system. From a public health perspective, the significant concern has been about the healthcare needs of asylum seekers and refugees, the legal frame-work of immigration and the extent of health problems among this population. It is striking that there is little representative data available on the health situation of this population group. The studies to date have shown a few cases which are either regional but also difficult to compare. The existing findings suggest the need for care and action especially in the area of mental illness of asylum seek-ers and their families. This paper will, therefore, try to investigate this complicated topic by trying to address some critical questions such as; is there a large-scale substance abuse among Asylum seekers? And if so, what could be the risk and protective fac-tors? What prevention interventions are available for this population, are there treatment opportunities for chronic users? Are there laws protecting this popula-tion in the context of prevention and treatment if yes, what policies are there for this population? And what implications does chronic substance abuse have on successful integration? To understand this complex dynamic, the paper will first highlight the current migration trends especially the period between 2015-2017. Secondly, this paper will explore the health status of asylum seekers, reviewing the risk and protective factors, especially mental health and its challenges. Thirdly, the paper will highlight substance abuse among Asylum seekers and the challenges on access to health care services especially mental health inter-ventions. Finally, the paper will investigate substance abuse prevention ap-proaches and highlighting some of the successful prevention interventions that have been piloted in different parts of Germany and finally conclusion and way forward.