Health issues in newly arrived African refugees attending general practice clinics in Melbourne.

Objective: To identify the most common health issues diagnosed by general practitioners in newly arrived African refugees.

Design: Descriptive study based on a purposive sample of six GPs to collate data from medical records of patients from African countries who had attended their clinics for the first time between 1 January and 30 June 2005.

Setting: Two community health centres and two private general practices in metropolitan Melbourne.