What is it about?

Bilingual care navigators assisted newly arrived refugees with hepatitis B in person and over the phone. Navigators provided education about hep B and the importance of ongoing care. They scheduled medical appointments and arranged transportation, and they called to make sure refugees attended their appointments (and made new appointments as necessary). This model dramatically increased the linkage to care rate among hep B-positive refugees in the Twin Cities.

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Why is it important?

We hope that others will adopt similar models, as this is a highly effective and relatively inexpensive approach. Refugees confront many barriers to navigating the health system and staying in care for chronic conditions. Receiving education and assistance from someone who speaks their language and understands their culture (and their challenges -- our navigators were refugees themselves) is key to linking refugees to care.

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This page is a summary of: Impact of the Hepatitis Testing and Linkage to Care (HepTLC) Initiative on Linkage to Care for Minnesota Refugees with Hepatitis B, 2012–2014, Public Health Reports, May 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/00333549161310s217.
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