Annual WNY Refugee Health Summit
A speaker addresses the audience at the 8th Annual Western New York (WNY) Refugee Health Summit.
The Annual Western New York (WNY) Refugee Health Summit unites clinicians, resettlement representatives, community health workers, researchers, students, municipal leaders, and refugees to highlight innovative university-community partnerships that have resulted in research, programming, and solutions to improve health and wellbeing for refugees living in Buffalo and Western New York. The event is co-sponsored by the Office of Global Health Initiatives and the Community for Global Health Equity.
The 8th Annual WNY Refugee Health Summit: Moving Towards Whole Health for New American and Refugee Youth. Sept. 10, 2022
The 8th Annual WNY Refugee Health Summit highlighted the spirit and adaptability of youth who arrived as refugees, while addressing health and wellbeing issues specific to their age group. Refugee and New American youth face unique challenges as they navigate different cultures and environments, growing up in a different society from their parents. The Summit examined a variety of Buffalo programs that support refugee youth, and addressed challenges and responses to a variety of issues, including mental health challenges, cultural barriers between older and younger generations, difficulty navigating higher education, and accessing culturally appropriate care.
Co-produced by community and university partners, the summit created a space for conversation among refugee communities, clinicians, resettlement agencies, community health workers, educators, researchers, students, and municipal leaders.
Organizers included leaders from the refugee community, representatives from the Community for Global Health Equity, Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab, School of Architecture and Planning, the Office of Global Health Initiatives, the Human Rights Initiative at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and the Immigrant and Refugee Research Institute at the School of Social Work.