Developing the health examination protocol for asylum seekers in Finland: A national development project (TERTTU)

There is a lack of information on the health status and service needs of asylum seekers arriving to Finland. The aim of the TERTTU-project was to develop the current health examination protocol for assessing the health, wellbeing and need for health care services of asylum seekers.

As part of the project, systematic data was collected by conducting a health examination and interview survey in reception centers. This provided information on the service use and wellbeing of newly arrived asylum seekers. Additionally, disease burden and service use of asylum seekers was analyzed based on information from the national electronic health records (EHR).

Based on the data, health examination protocol was developed to enable systematic health monitoring and evidence-based development of services for asylum seekers, with the aim of unifying practices across reception centres.

The TERTTU project provided recommendations for the asylum seekers' primary health examination protocol.

During the project:

Information on the health and health service use of asylum seekers in Finland was collected.
A national health examination protocol was developed to improve assessment and identification.
Finnish immigration service was responsible for the implementation of the developed protocol.

The project was implemented by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) in collaboration with the Finnish Immigration Service. Supported by The European Union, the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF).