RHIN is national collaborative partnership that has created a database of quality multilingual, public health resources for those providing care to resettled refugees. Resources include:

• Translated health education materials (brochures, fact sheets, videos )
• Provider tools (information on refugee populations, cultures)
• Links to related websites

RHIN provides links to existing sites specializing in refugee health, offers medical information from the National Library of Medicine and offers a variety of posted documents from healthcare providers throughout the country. A future RHIN activity is to facilitate communication among refugee health practitioners by using email and a list serve to keep users informed and in contact with each other in a secure network environment.

The RHIN national partnership enables resettled refugees, their health care providers and public health administrators to easily access information relevant to health conditions and health services. Many hospitals, clinics, community health centers and voluntary organizations operating in the United States provide a broad range of health services to refugees and others with limited language proficiency. Discussing health conditions and making patients aware of available services can be challenging without timely access to reliable, culturally and linguistically appropriate information.

RHIN Principal Objectives:

• Develop a database of multicultural/multilingual health information; identify and make accessible culturally and linguistically appropriate health and medical information in order to improve health services for refugees
• Improve access to information concerning refugee health by state and local public health departments and other health professionals, refugee service providers, and refugee consumers
• Enable and encourage a “culture of information sharing and communications” among health care providers who specialize in refugee health

For Further Information Contact:
   John Scott, RHIN Director, < jcscott@cpsc.com >
   Center for Public Service Communications, Arlington, Virginia

   Adil Alaoui, RHIN Technical Manager, < alaoui@georgetown.edu >
   ISIS Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC