Project Name：Refugees Act and Communicate for Health (REACH): Using Technology to Increase Health Literacy and Health Care Access for Refugees in Turkey

Project status：Completed projects

Cooperating Country：Middle East, Turkey

Project Description：

Turkey has the highest number of refugees in the world, with 3.6 million Syrian nationals due to the protracted Syrian crisis. In Turkey, health care services in the public sector are freely available for registered refugees. However, there are numerous obstacles that decrease refugees’ access to and utilization of available services, such as geographic accessibility, languages barrier and financial capability, etc., To address above mentioned issues, the project aimed to assist refugee youth, local youth, health authorities, non-governmental organizations and academia in Turkey to increase awareness, willingness and collaboration to improve refugees’ health literacy and health care access via mHealth technology.
Overall, the project components included:
1. Photography exhibitions, panels, media news and policy reports were produced to advocate for refugee health rights and to promote communication among refugee youth, local youth and different stakeholders in Turkey, and as a project website in English, Turkish and Arabic was developed to increase awareness on using health technologies in humanitarian settings.
2. An mHealth application prototype was developed in Arabic and Turkish to increase access to health information and health services among young refugees and local youth in Turkey.
3. International scientific publications on using community based participatory approach and mHealth to promote refugee health were submitted for publication.

Implementation Start Date：2019-08-01

Implementation End Date：2020-07-31

Source of Funding：TaiwanICDF

Project Objectives：Refugee youth, local youth, health authorities, non-governmental organizations and academia in Turkey have increased awareness, willingness and collaboration to improve refugees’ health literacy and health care access via mHealth technology.

Executing Agency：Center for Sustainable Development (CSD), Columbia University

Implementation Arrangement：The TaiwanICDF dispatched a volunteer to assist in the implementation of the project; CSD implemented the proposed activities and liaised with local NGOs and government offices.