Refugee Health Alliance

The Refugee Health Alliance (RHA) listserv was created to help organize and mobilize Southern California providers and their networks down to the Mexican border to aid in the refugee crisis. It has since evolved into an extensive network of providers and students who travel to the Zona Norte of Tijuana every Saturday to support the provision of medical care at several of the refugee shelters. We also staff a weekday clinic located at Prevencasa to provide resources to refugees during the week.

Our organization, Refugee Health Alliance (RHA), supports a clinic that operates at the Prevencasa harm reduction clinic. This clinic is open Monday through Friday and is typically staffed by 3-6 volunteers. The clinic sees between 15-35 patients each day and we can refer patients for basic labs, radiography, and testing. We have a clinic stock of donated wound care and point of care diagnostic supplies, as well as basic medications and antibiotics. Altogether, the building has about 20-50 volunteers collaborating across all groups to serve asylum seekers. Individuals can also cross volunteer provided they get in touch prior with the other organizations. Each Saturday, we also support clinical teams composed largely of local volunteers to see 80-120 patients across several sites in Tijuana. 

Vision Statement

To provide ethical, holistic, and culturally-inclusive care and advocate for all displaced and vulnerable populations in collaboration with activists and existing healthcare organizations along the US-Mexico border.

Mission Statement

The Refugee Health Alliance (RHA) was organized in 2018 in response to increasing medical need at the US-Mexico Border. 

• Patients receiving care are:
• Vulnerable and marginalized. They are families, children, pregnant women and LGBTQ individuals. They have been displaced, deported from the US, and politically and socially excluded. They are refugees and asylum seekers fleeing structural and non-structural violence. 

Our main aims are to:

Sustain the provision of ethical, culturally competent, holistic and trauma informed care to our patient population.

Empower affected individuals to advocate for their own medical and legal rights.

Connect individuals and families to resources, including: 

• Substance use disorder treatment
• HIV care
• TB diagnosis and medical care
• Legal services
• Mental health resources
• Dental health resources

Collaborate with relevant local community organizations to address the social determinants of health, including, but not limited to: 

• Economic disparities 
• Homelessness
• Food insecurity
• Legal barriers
• Structural violence
• Human rights
• Education
• Gender Identity 
• Race/Ethnicity

Mobilize a dynamic network of volunteers, interprofessional clinicians, undergraduate/graduate students, and advocates from Mexico to promote the wellbeing of under-resourced populations.

Promote ongoing discussion of the public health implications of such a large population of displaced individuals/families through research, advocacy, and educational initiatives.