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The hypothesis of this study was that those refugee children with Helicobacter pylori are thinner than their non-infected counterparts. This cross-sectional study investigated the height and weight of newly arrived refugee children up to age 19 years, who were screened for H. pylori using a stool antigen test at the Migrant Health Service in Adelaide between August 2010 and October 2013. Of 460 children, 21% were infected with H. pylori. After adjusting for vitamin B12 and iron levels, ethnicity, age and sex, the odds of being thin in the 10- to 19-year-old age group was 4.28-fold higher (95% CI 1.48-12.4) if they were H. pylori positive compared with those who were H. pylori negative. The difference between the two groups is statistically significant (P=0.01). Screening and treatment for H. pylori in the general population in developed countries is not recommended unless there are symptoms such as dyspepsia or risk of peptic ulcer, duodenal ulcer or gastric cancer. Given the findings of this study, a recommendation could be made that newly arrived refugee children who are thin should be tested for H. pylori. Thinness in children may influence their cognitive ability, school performance, physical endurance and hence their ability to successfully settle into their new country.

With COVID-19 affecting millions of people around the globe, quarantine of international arrivals is a critical public health measure to prevent further disease transmission in local populations. This measure has also been applied in the repatriation of citizens, undertaken by several countries as an ethical obligation and legal responsibility. This article describes the process of planning and preparing for the repatriation operation in South Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interagency collaboration, development of a COVID-19 testing and quarantining protocol, implementing infection prevention and control, and building a specialised health care delivery model were essential aspects of the repatriation operational planning, with a focus on maintaining dignity and wellbeing of the passengers as well as on effective prevention of COVID-19 transmission. From April 2020 to mid-February 2021, more than 14,000 international arrivals travellers have been repatriated under the South Australian repatriation operations. This paper has implications to inform ongoing repatriation efforts in Australia and overseas in a pandemic situation.