Afghan Refugees Health Needs Assessment Overview Terry E. Rives, DrPH first traveled to the Northwest Frontier of Pakistan in August 2001. At that time, he completed health needs assessments in collaboration with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Multiple Afghan refugee camps were assessed including; Akora, New Shamshutoo, Jolozai, and the Kuwaiti Relief Hospital. Dr. Rives led a project that studied the difference in access and quality of health care between refugees certified by the UNHCR and those refugees living in a general, but a somewhat segregated, society in Peshawar, Pakistan. At the request of the director of the health district, Dr. Rives returned to the region in February and March of 2002 and made a further study regarding a new refugee camp, Shalaman, adjacent to the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan and Nasir Bagh, near Peshawar, Pakistan. This visit prompted Dr. Rives' nomination to the international board of management for a new 120 bed Afghan women and children’s hospital located in the northwest frontier. Collaborating with the UNHCR and Kabul University Medical Faculty, Dr. Rives will once again travel to the region in early 2004 with a visit to Kabul, Afghanistan. These projects have previously been funded from financial gifts from the Lay Family Foundation. The Houston Chapter of the United Nations Association is currently providing support for the 2004 assessment trip. Dr. Rives is the director of institutional assessment & biostatistical services, and an assistant professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Medical School.

Photographs taken from Dr. Rives' trip.