Detainee mental health an issue: Red Cross

Mental health problems at Australia's off-shore detention centres are a pattern repeated at border camps around the world, the international head of the Red Cross says.

Nauru recently kicked Medecins Sans Frontieres off the Pacific island, with doctors revealing the mental health of asylum seekers Australia put there is at devastating levels.

Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee for the Red Cross, raised his concerns about Nauru and Manus Island in meetings with Australian authorities this week.

"You have seen that with other humanitarian organisations, one of the key concerns has been the mental health situations of those who are in the offshore facilities," Mr Maurer told the National Press Club on Wednesday.

"It's something which is a recurring pattern.

"One of our big concerns worldwide is that people who are fleeing contexts of violence and war in one place or another are stuck, and then lose the perspective to have a future, to have a life."

Mr Maurer said the Red Cross provides confidential reports to governments around the world about more than one million detainees.

"To be very clear and pragmatic, while certain measures at the beginning may not necessarily have immediate negative impact, over time may have negative impact," he said.

He said he had "constructive" meetings with Australian authorities.

One thing that had worked well with Syrian refugees at the Turkish border was a controlled introduction into the local labour market, Mr Maurer said.