Devex: Ensuring healthier sexual and reproductive lives for our refugee patients
Komal Soin, family physician

“With a rising influx of refugees resettling in the United States, it is imperative for health providers to feel comfortable discussing reproductive health issues with this population … Ultimately, to provide effective counseling and to increase utilization of services, providers need to feel comfortable approaching sensitive topics such as sexual and reproductive health with women coming from different backgrounds. We as providers need to make an effort to learn about their background and the challenges our patients have faced as a population. … If we are able to create an environment that promotes culturally attuned care, we as providers will feel comfortable talking to our patients about sensitive topics such as their sexual and reproductive health. In turn, we can hopefully prevent unintended pregnancies and foster healthier sexual and reproductive lives for all our patients” (3/14).