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As Minnesota sees more newcomers from Central and South America, health care providers should be aware of Chagas disease and its potential to cause harm, particularly in newborns. Chagas disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and is primarily found in Central and South America (refer to CDC: American Trypanosoma). It is transmitted by triatomine bugs, or “kissing bugs,” which tend to bite at night and can be found in houses that contain natural materials (such as mud or straw). After biting, the insects defecate, and feces entering mucous membranes or skin breaks cause illness. People can also be infected through blood transfusions, organ transplants, and congenital transmission.
Babies born with congenital Chagas disease are at risk for severe complications, include prematurity, low birth weight, anemia, meningoencephalitis, and even death. Infants who are born to women at risk for Chagas disease, including those who are from an endemic area, have a family member with Chagas disease, have lived in a house with natural materials, or have a known history of finding or being bitten by triatomine bugs should be screened for Chagas (refer to CDC: Algorithm for Evaluation of Chagas Disease in Pregnant Women (PDF) for further screening recommendations). When treatment is given within the first year of being infected, the cure rate is over 90%. For more information about testing from the MDH laboratory, please visit Tests for Agents Beginning with T: Trypanosoma cruzi.
For more information, refer to CDC: Chagas Disease: Detailed FAQs and CDC: Congenital Chagas Disease.
Minnesota continues to receive families through Welcome Corps, the private refugee sponsorship program launched in early 2023. Minnesota leads the country in private sponsor group applications. Sponsor groups submitting applications for the Naming Phase of the program are asked to “List one local healthcare location in your community where refugees can get the Initial Medical Screening (Refugee Health Assessment) after they arrive in the U.S.”
MDH RHP has recommended that sponsors work with our program to coordinate the domestic medical examination and not schedule these visits independently. MDH RHP and local public health will determine the location of the assessment after the refugee(s) arrive. To initiate the Refugee Health Assessment process, sponsors are asked to fill out a New Arrival Notification and Screening Referral on our confidential refugee health referral system when the refugee(s) arrive.
To read more about Welcome Corps and the Naming Phase, visit Sponsor A Refugee You Know. For assistance with applications, visit Application Support Session. For resources regarding supporting Welcome Corps arrivals, visit State-by-State Resources for Newcomers and Sponsors. Questions may be directed to refugeehealth@state.mn.us.
Minnesota also continues to welcome a small number of Haitian humanitarian parolees. To support local public health, resettlement, and clinic partners who serve Haitian newcomers, the Refugee Health Program developed a Haitian Newcomer Health Profile. Check out the health profile to learn more about Haitian culture, resettlement, health concerns, and benefits.
Minnesota Department of Human Services
Refugee Resettlement Programs Office
Funded by the Minnesota Department of Human Services Refugee Resettlement Programs Office (DHS RPO), the Minnesota Resettlement Network (MRN) is a collaborative service model that pulls many community partners together in coordinated work. The goal of the service model is to ensure that individuals and families experience high quality, expert, coordinated supports. The MRN utilizes a “no wrong door” approach in which families, no matter what agency door they enter, have their needs assessed and are connected to all MRN services they would benefit from. Reflecting on the past five-year funding cycle, the MRN is proud of its accomplishments, including flexibility and adaptability in the face of new challenges and needs. The MRN stepped in to help refugees access critical COVID-19 information and resources, including the implementation of the COVID Care Navigator Service and Help Line. The service network also stepped up in extraordinary ways during the unprecedented Operation Allies Welcome and United for Ukraine responses, building capacity to serve new communities arriving outside of traditional resettlement pathways. Key to these efforts was coordinating diverse partners and expertise and building new community relationships.
As the MRN looks forward to the next five-year funding cycle, it prepares for continuing shifts in the resettlement landscape. These shifts include the federal pathways through which newcomers arrive, the differing supports available to newcomers based on the pathway through which they arrive, and shifts in who the network serves, where they reside, and the types of supports they need. To respond effectively to all these shifts, the MRN knows it needs partners who bring a wide array of experience and service expertise to ensure that MRN services can provide robust supports across a range of people, places, and needs.
Requests for proposals will be published shortly and will be available at DHS: Grants and RFPs. To learn more about the MRN, visit DHS: Refugee resettlement: Program overviews. Keep up with DHS RPO news by subscribing to the newsletter: DHS Email Updates. Celebrate newcomer contributions to Minnesota by reading about Minnesota's Outstanding Refugee Awards winners. DHS RPO may be contacted at dhs.rpo.outreach@state.mn.us.
Minnesota Malaria Community Advisory Board publishes manuscript
The Malaria Prevention Project has existed since 2016 and been guided by our Malaria Community Advisory Board (CAB) since the beginning. The project team collected a large amount of data through focus groups (collaborating with partners including African Career, Education, and Resource Inc. [ACER], Kofa Foundation, Minnesota African Task Force Against Ebola, and The West African Collaborative), malaria case interviews, community surveys, and questionnaires in travel clinics and the Hennepin County Medical Center Emergency Department. A common theme from the data was missed opportunities in clinic visits and exam rooms. As a result, the CAB led the writing and submission of a manuscript to elevate their recommendations for health care professionals, in particular for those taking care of travelers visiting friends and relatives back in their country of birth. The article, “Leveraging community advisory boards within travel medicine to help reduce malaria incidence in refugees, immigrants and migrants visiting friends and relatives abroad: reflections from the Minnesota Malaria Community Advisory Board on patient-provider interactions” was published in the Journal of Travel Medicine in February 2024.
Visit a clinic before international travel
Whether you’re traveling internationally this spring with friends, family, or colleagues, make a plan to visit a health clinic or travel clinic. Pre-travel checkups aim to protect you and your loved ones during your international trip and help ensure a fun and smooth time abroad. Even if you're a seasoned traveler but have new health conditions or are traveling with children, it is still a good idea to visit a clinic to keep you and your family healthy.
Not sure what to ask or why you should visit? Watch our “Health Care Before International Travel” video. Don’t forget to share the joy of good health and pass this video on to someone you love! To learn more, visit Guidance for Travelers: International Travel & Infectious Disease.
Applications open for course on Global Health in Local Contexts at University of Minnesota
This fall 2024 course immerses students in a relational, place-based study of the global social forces that impact health. The course centers storytelling to explore community-based health care and the practice and possibilities of global health in local settings. Students will also take part in collaborative learning with peers in Uganda and Haiti who will be engaged in parallel, geographically-based courses.
The course will take place Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon and select Saturdays from Sept. 5 through Dec. 7, 2024. University of Minnesota graduate students can take the course for credit (GHSR 6713, 3 credits). Non-credit course options are also available for community learners. Learn more and apply at University of Minnesota: Global Health in Local Contexts.
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