Development of the Guidelines

These guidelines are the culmination of a consensus process based on available evidence-based data. DGMQ began to develop the guidelines in September 2006. The guidelines are planned to encompass 14 areas to be addressed during the domestic medical screening visit or on the initial primary care follow-up visit.

Each section is written by a disease expert familiar with refugee health, referring to evidence-based published reports. The draft section is then reviewed by refugee health and subject-matter experts outside CDC. The sections receive further critical review and editing in an official clearance process within CDC. Subsequently, a Federal Partners Working Group critically reviews the documents. This working group includes representatives from the Offices of Refugee Resettlement, Global Health Affairs, and Population, Refugee and Migration (Department of State) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Service Administration. Finally, a representative elected body of State Refugee Health Coordinators, the Medical Screening Protocol Working Group, critically reviews each section.

The completed documents will be posted on this website as they become available.

We thank those who participated in creating these guidelines: