Neonatal morbidity among African refugee women in Israel: a case–control study

ObjectivesReports on neonatal morbidity (NM) among refugees in developed countries remain inconsistent. We aimed to compare NM among infants of African refugees in Israel to the native population based on a large population sample.DesignA case–control study.SettingA tertiary hospital in Israel.ParticipantsData on hospital-based live births of refugee women and their newborns who were born in 2014 and 2017 were retrieved from medical records. Perinatal and neonatal data were compared between the refugee group and the native residents matched for gestational age and year of birth as well as within the refugee group.Primary outcomePrevalence of NM among African refugees in Israel.ResultsNewborns delivered by 357 refugee women (mean age 30.2 years) and 357 controls (mean age 32.2 years) were analysed. Both groups were similar for the newborns’ weight and gestational age. There were no significant differences in NM between the groups. A within-refugee comparison conducted between 2014 and 2017 yielded significant differences in birth weight (3051.4 vs 3373.6 gr, p<0.001, 95% CI (198.3 to 446.2), d=0.56), the number of twin deliveries (10 vs 4, p=0.002, Φ=0.173), the number of neonates evaluated as small for gestational age (15 vs 10, p=0.003, Φ=0.167) and the use of human milk (71% vs 93%, p<0.001, Φ=−0.298).ConclusionsWe conclude that NM among neonates born to refugee mothers was not higher than that of neonates born to native Israeli mothers. We suggest that successful implementation of health policies for refugees has improved their accessibility to mother–child health services.

Decolonization, Neo-Apartheid and Xenophobic Violence in Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to Our Hillbrow

ABSTRACT South Africa is undoubtedly one of the most unreceptive destinations in the world for black African refugees due to the prevalent xenophobic violence since the dismantling of apartheid in 1994. Previous research claimed that attitudes of intolerance and xenophobia towards foreigners were results of social and economic insufficiencies. Yet, this study argues that apartheid was not really dismantled, and that incomplete decolonization led to a state of neo-apartheid which catalysed citizens towards aggression and intolerance against foreigners. The article looks at Welcome to Our Hillbrow (2001) by Phaswane Mpe through the lens of Fanons’ concept of decolonization, and attributes the actions of xenophobic violence in South Africa to the incomplete process of decolonization after apartheid. The article concludes that unsuccessful liberation and incomplete decolonization can lead to a state of neo-colonialism and ultimately, neo-apartheid. Xenophobic violence is triggered and motivated by the reality that nothing has really changed in South Africa even after the dismantlement apartheid.

Black Skin, White Cameras

The recent arrival in Israel of thousands of refugees from countries like Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Sudan has triggered a spate of hate crimes and mob violence. Asked about these asylum seekers in 2012, Likud-party member Miri Regev called them a “cancer.” For this comment, she later apologized—not to the African asylum-seekers but to Israeli cancer survivors, and she expressed regret for comparing them to Africans. Around that same time, Interior Minister Eli Yishai of the Shas Party told a reporter that “this country belongs to us, to the white man.” Continuing on, he stated that he would use “all the tools [necessary] to expel the foreigners, until not one infiltrator remains.” While the racial dynamics of Israel have been thoroughly examined with respect to both intra-Jewish tensions (Ashkenazi supremacy) and the Palestinian issue (white settler-colonialism), in this essay, I want to theorize Israeli whiteness with respect to the African refugees. Specifically, I will examine two recent Israeli documentaries dealing with African refugees—Hotline (dir. Silvina Landsmann, 2015) and Between Fences (dir. Avi Mograbi, 2016). Both openly demonstrate solidarity with the African asylum-seekers, but they do so in different ways, and if the former film leaves the racial hierarchies of Zionism intact, the latter works to shatter them.

Financial Challenges and Capacity among African Refugees in the Southern USA: A Study of Socio-demographic Differences

Refugees’ successful integration into US society requires adaptation to economic, financial and social norms. Despite the importance of considering financial challenges (financial stress and financial anxiety) and financial capacity (financial literacy and financial self-efficacy) in reaching personal financial goals, literature examining the relationship between financial challenges and capacity—critical in refugee resettlement and integration—is sparse and fragmented. This study explored financial challenges and capacity amongst resettled African refugees (N = 130) in the southern USA using data from a larger community-based participatory research study that used a mixed-methods approach. We explored socio-demographic differences in financial stress, financial anxiety, financial literacy and financial self-efficacy across African refugee subpopulation groups. Our study highlights the importance of social work advocacy for data disaggregation, which helps establish the scope of the problem, unmask subpopulation differences and make vulnerable groups more visible to facilitate the development of tailored programmes and services to reach economic integration goals. We provide social work implications for data disaggregation in the current corona virus context, which will leave long-term financial scars on refugee subpopulations.

Cultural Citizenship and Refugee Integration

This chapter sheds light on the cultural citizenship of refugee-background Black Africans in Australia. Specifically, it elaborates on cultural citizenship as an analytical framework, outlines recent multicultural policy provisions in Australia, and highlights how conservative politicians and media personalities racialize youth violence and stigmatize Black Africans as dangerous criminals. Then the chapter proceeds to explain why racialized moral panic undermines the integration of African refugees. It argues that public humiliation emasculates self-efficacy, leading to youth disengagement. Second, the deprivation of cultural citizenship diminishes refugee youth's sense of affiliation. Third, public racial disparagement reinforces interpersonal racial prejudice and discrimination. Fourth, racial stigmatization perpetuates socio-economic disadvantages of refugee communities, durably positioning them on the margin of society. In light of these points, it is argued that a claim for equal respect and dignifying representation is a demand for full citizenship.