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Child Refugee and Migrant Health

A Manual for Health Professionals

  • Discusses key information for health professionals working 'on the ground', incorporating many practical experience from contributors with different backgrounds

  • Provides a strong focus on children and families

  • Considers the various settings where health care is provided to refugees and migrants

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Table of contents (32 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
  2. Introduction

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. Refugee Children and their Families: The Bigger Picture

      • Christian Harkensee, Sarah Walpole
      Pages 3-16
  3. Part II

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-18
    2. Psychosocial Assessment and Early Intervention

      • Ayesha Cheema-Hasan
      Pages 19-27
    3. The Return to Happiness Program

      • Maria Isabel Herran
      Pages 29-36
    4. How Can Schools and Teachers Help Displaced Children?

      • Johnny Mahippathorn Chinnapha
      Pages 37-45
    5. Unaccompanied Minors

      • Saleh M. Al Salehi
      Pages 67-74
    6. How to Help Parents and Other Caretakers

      • Marlene Goodfriend
      Pages 75-82
    7. Coping with Cultural Differences

      • Karen Olness
      Pages 83-86
  4. Part III

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 97-98
    2. Malnutrition

      • Christine Fernandes, Minh Tram Le
      Pages 99-117
    3. Food Security

      • Zoë Bell, Christine Fernandes, Minh Tram Le
      Pages 119-131
  5. Part IV

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 185-186
    2. Preparation and Well-being for Humanitarian Workers

      • Christian Harkensee, Sarah Walpole
      Pages 187-206

About this book

This is a practical book for any health professional working with refugee children and families in various settings, from the initial humanitarian crisis, through displacement, living in camps, transfer between countries, settling in host countries, to return to the country of origin. Providing a holistic and intergenerational perspective, topics include the psychological impact, growth and nutrition, the management of chronic illness and infectious diseases, as well as the health of girls, pregnant women and mothers. Finally social issues such as education and the development of a healthy future generation are addressed.

Child Refugee and Migrant Health is a hands-on resource for anyone who cares for children, assessing and addressing their health and psychological needs, in the best way possible, with the available resources, in any setting. There is a strong focus not just on caring for refugee and migrant children in crisis situations, but also on their families, long term physical and mental health.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead, UK

    Christian Harkensee

  • Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA

    Karen Olness

  • Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, USA

    B. Emily Esmaili

About the editors

Dr Christian Harkensee, PhD, MSc, DLSHTM, DiMM, FRCPCH
Born in Hamburg, Germany, graduated in Medicine from Humboldt University Berlin in 1997. General paediatric training in Murnau (Germany), Scarborough, Chester, Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) from 1998-2006. Conducting full-time research at Tokai University (Kanagawa, Japan) and Newcastle University between 2006-2010 for a PhD in clinical medical sciences/immunogenetics (completed 2012). Sub-specialty training in paediatric immunology, infectious diseases and allergy in Newcastle upon Tyne and London, 2010-2012. Consultant in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at National University Hospital in Singapore (2012-2014), University Hospital North Tees in Stockton (2014-2018) and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Gateshead (since 2018), where I run a child refugee clinic. MSc in Infectious Diseases with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2013), extensive volunteering experience in humanitarian emergencies and capacity building.

Karen Olness MD is board certified in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and Professor Emerita of Pediatrics, Global Health and Diseases at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Ohio.   She has been a field worker, helping children in humanitarian emergencies in many countries. In 1996 she initiated programs at CWRU to train relief workers about the special needs of children in disasters.  These workshops have been replicated in many resource poor settings.  She is past chair of the Global Child Health Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Technical Advisory Group on Children in Humanitarian Emergencies of the IPA.  She is past President of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.  She has more than 150 publications and has received many awards from universities and professional organizations. 



Emily Esmaili DO MA FAAP, is a pediatrician with global health experience both locally and internationally. After residency at Wake Forest Medical Center, she worked in Laos for two years as country coordinator and pediatric faculty for the NGO Health Frontiers. She then moved to Rwanda to serve as visiting pediatric faculty through Yale University and the Human Resources for Health program. While there, she helped start a "farm-to-bedside" nutrition program for food-insecure hospitalized children, which she later established as a 501c3, Growing Health, Inc. She then returned to the US to earn her masters in Global Bioethics and Science Policy from Duke University, followed by a fellowship in refugee child health also from Duke. Dr. Esmaili now works for Lincoln Community Health Center in Durham, NC, which serves primarily low-income, immigrant and refugee children in the local community, where she also leads a grant-funded outreach program for refugee and immigrant families post-COVID. She has volunteered with humanitarian organizations in Greece, India, Nepal, Rwanda, and along the Thai-Burma border.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Child Refugee and Migrant Health

  • Book Subtitle: A Manual for Health Professionals

  • Editors: Christian Harkensee, Karen Olness, B. Emily Esmaili

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74906-4

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Medicine, Medicine (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-74905-7Published: 06 August 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-74908-8Published: 07 August 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-74906-4Published: 05 August 2021

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVII, 471

  • Number of Illustrations: 22 b/w illustrations, 52 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, Primary Care Medicine

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access