Refugees and forcibly displaced children during the COVID-19 pandemic
There are an unprecedented number of people forced out of their homes due to war, armed conflict, violence, and disasters, with 30 million children displaced and an almost 5-fold increase of unaccompanied children between 2010-2015. Public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the pre-existing refugee crisis, and place migrants and forcibly displaced people at greater mental health risk. With many resettlement, relocation, and repatriation mechanisms suspended, there are no alternatives for refugees and migrants trying to escape. People still need to flee violence, but have nowhere to go, and add to the already 50.8 million people displaced internally in their countries - on the run, at home.
Basic public health measures such as social distancing, hand hygiene, and self-isolation are difficult to implement in camps, settlements, and homes, due to overcrowded living situations, poor access to basic sanitation, and lack of access to health services, leaving refugee children at risk of contracting disease.
Most forcibly displaced people are located in low- and middle-income countries. But we aren’t hearing about many COVID-19 outbreaks there. How come?
Professor Oliynaka, past president of the International Association for Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists and Allied Professionals notes that in her home country of Nigeria, the pandemic has not greatly impacted them in part due to the youthful demographics. Half of the population is under 18 years old. Moreover, she states that elderly are in families, not in institutionalized care settings. With the “outdoor culture”, most people are outside, since air-conditioning isn’t widely accessible. In many low-resourced countries, the population does not have as many people with serious medical comorbidities, since they don’t have the health system to manage serious medical problems - the life expectancy rate is low.
To learn more about refugees and forcibly displaced people, feel free to:
watch this video or fact sheet I made for the American Psychiatric Association,
peruse any of the studies I’ve done on the mental health of survivors of torture,
read my book, Child, Adolescent & Family Refugee Mental Health: A Global Perspective, co-edited by the senior mental health adviser, UN High Commissioner for Refugees
or check out this mental health and psychosocial assessment I did with displaced Syrian adolescents in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan.
Review the follow up assessment of displaced Syrians in the Jordanian community