Refugee women's well-being, needs and challenges: implications for health policymakers.

BACKGROUND: Refugees face circumstances where their health and well-being are compromised. In this qualitative study, the aim was to understand Syrian refugee women's needs for care and the predisposing and enabling factors to healthcare access and utilisation. METHODS: Out of 945 Syrian mothers who gave birth in our university hospital between 2014 and 2018, 195 were reached; out of which, 47 women were included. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted and were later analysed using a qualitative content analysis approach. Depression was assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 at the end of the interview. RESULTS: Social isolation and maternal depression, language barrier and challenges while navigating the healthcare system emerged as the main themes of the study. Low educational and occupational status of the women, poor social resources, limited Turkish proficiency and unfamiliarity with the host healthcare system were identified as the predisposing factors for poor healthcare services utilisation. CONCLUSION: Recommendations include bridging language gaps, improving the navigation of the healthcare system by visual support or in-person interpretation, and psychosocial support. Providing hospital-based language courses to mothers and social integration programs for families will improve the mothers' well-being and indirectly care of the child.

Impact of zinc supplementation in children with acute diarrhoea in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: Zinc deficiency is prevalent in children in developing countries. Supplemental zinc provides therapeutic benefits in diarrhoea. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of daily zinc supplementation for 14 days on diarrhoea duration, severity, and morbidity in children. METHODS: In a randomised, open label non-placebo controlled trial, we assessed the efficacy of providing zinc sulfate to 6-60 month old children with acute diarrhoea for 2 weeks followed by 3 months of morbidity surveillance. Children were randomly assigned to zinc (n = 150) and control (n = 130) groups and received 15-30 mg elemental zinc daily. RESULTS: Supplemented children had significantly improved plasma zinc levels by day 14 of therapy. Zinc deficiency was observed in 2.6% of the treatment and 3.3% of the control group. The mean duration of diarrhoea after starting supplementation was 3.02+/-2 days in the zinc group and 3.67+/-3.2 days in the control group. There was no significant difference in diarrhoea duration by treatment group (p>0.05). The number of stools after starting supplementation was 5.8+/-3.7 and 5.1+/-3.9 on day 1, 2.9+/-1.6 and 3.0+/-2.2 on day 2, and 1.8+/-1.1 and 1.6+/-0.9 on day 3 in the zinc and control groups, respectively. There was no significant difference in diarrhoea severity by treatment group (p>0.05). No significant effect was found on the incidence and prevalence of diarrhoea in the zinc compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that supplementing children with acute diarrhoea in Turkey with 3 RDA of elemental zinc for 14 days improved neither diarrhoea duration nor severity despite significant increments in plasma zinc.