When Refugees Care for Refugees in Lebanon: Providing Contextually Appropriate Care from the Ground Up
Despite a surge in initiatives to integrate foreign-trained physicians into local health systems and a drive to learn from localised humanitarian initiatives under the COVID-19 pandemic, we still know little about the on-the-ground strategies developed by refugee doctors to meet the needs of refugee...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Edinburgh Library
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Medicine Anthropology Theory |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.medanthrotheory.org/article/view/5159 |
| _version_ | 1818740385555415040 |
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| author | Diane Duclos Fouad Mohamed Fouad Karl Blanchet |
| author_facet | Diane Duclos Fouad Mohamed Fouad Karl Blanchet |
| author_sort | Diane Duclos |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite a surge in initiatives to integrate foreign-trained physicians into local health systems and a drive to learn from localised humanitarian initiatives under the COVID-19 pandemic, we still know little about the on-the-ground strategies developed by refugee doctors to meet the needs of refugee patients. In Lebanon, displaced Syrian health professionals have mounted informal, local responses to care for displaced Syrian patients. Drawing on ethnographic work shadowing these healthcare providers across their medical and non-medical activities, we explore how clinical encounters characterised by shared histories of displacement can inform humanitarian medicine. Our findings shed light on the creation of breathing spaces in crises. In particular, our study reveals how displaced healthcare workers cope with uncertainty, documents how displaced healthcare workers expand the category of ‘appropriate care’ to take into account the economic and safety challenges faced by patients, and locates the category of ‘informality’ within a complex landscape of myriad actors in Lebanon. This research article shows that refugee-to-refugee healthcare is not restricted to improvised clinical encounters between ‘frontliners’ and ‘victims of war’. Rather, it is proactively enacted from the ground up to foster appropriate care relationships in the midst of violent, repeated, and protracted disruptions to systems of care. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T01:39:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-43246f7a052e483cb6477569b7e4012f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2405-691X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T01:39:53Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | University of Edinburgh Library |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Medicine Anthropology Theory |
| spelling | doaj.art-43246f7a052e483cb6477569b7e4012f2022-12-21T21:25:22ZengUniversity of Edinburgh LibraryMedicine Anthropology Theory2405-691X2021-09-018312210.17157/mat.8.3.51595159When Refugees Care for Refugees in Lebanon: Providing Contextually Appropriate Care from the Ground UpDiane Duclos0Fouad Mohamed FouadKarl Blanchetlondon School of Hygiene and Tropical MedicineDespite a surge in initiatives to integrate foreign-trained physicians into local health systems and a drive to learn from localised humanitarian initiatives under the COVID-19 pandemic, we still know little about the on-the-ground strategies developed by refugee doctors to meet the needs of refugee patients. In Lebanon, displaced Syrian health professionals have mounted informal, local responses to care for displaced Syrian patients. Drawing on ethnographic work shadowing these healthcare providers across their medical and non-medical activities, we explore how clinical encounters characterised by shared histories of displacement can inform humanitarian medicine. Our findings shed light on the creation of breathing spaces in crises. In particular, our study reveals how displaced healthcare workers cope with uncertainty, documents how displaced healthcare workers expand the category of ‘appropriate care’ to take into account the economic and safety challenges faced by patients, and locates the category of ‘informality’ within a complex landscape of myriad actors in Lebanon. This research article shows that refugee-to-refugee healthcare is not restricted to improvised clinical encounters between ‘frontliners’ and ‘victims of war’. Rather, it is proactively enacted from the ground up to foster appropriate care relationships in the midst of violent, repeated, and protracted disruptions to systems of care.http://www.medanthrotheory.org/article/view/5159culturally-appropriate carerefugeessyrialebanonethnography |
| spellingShingle | Diane Duclos Fouad Mohamed Fouad Karl Blanchet When Refugees Care for Refugees in Lebanon: Providing Contextually Appropriate Care from the Ground Up Medicine Anthropology Theory culturally-appropriate care refugees syria lebanon ethnography |
| title | When Refugees Care for Refugees in Lebanon: Providing Contextually Appropriate Care from the Ground Up |
| title_full | When Refugees Care for Refugees in Lebanon: Providing Contextually Appropriate Care from the Ground Up |
| title_fullStr | When Refugees Care for Refugees in Lebanon: Providing Contextually Appropriate Care from the Ground Up |
| title_full_unstemmed | When Refugees Care for Refugees in Lebanon: Providing Contextually Appropriate Care from the Ground Up |
| title_short | When Refugees Care for Refugees in Lebanon: Providing Contextually Appropriate Care from the Ground Up |
| title_sort | when refugees care for refugees in lebanon providing contextually appropriate care from the ground up |
| topic | culturally-appropriate care refugees syria lebanon ethnography |
| url | http://www.medanthrotheory.org/article/view/5159 |
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