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Health care away from home Ensuring refugees have access to health care is a complex challenge. Global solidarity and investment are needed to equip often overstretched health care to ensure that adequate health services can be accessible and provided to all
Before displacement, many refugees live in countries experiencing humanitarian crises. During the journey out of their country, refugees may face harsh or dangerous conditions that have severe consequences for their physical and psychological well-being. Arriving in their new host country, refugees often do not have access to affordable health services. Global solidarity and investment are needed to equip often overstretched health services to ensure that adequate health services can be accessible and provided to all. How does the United Nations High Commission for Refugees help improve their health and well-being? UNHCR’s public health strategy aims to foster the conditions, collaborations and approaches that enable refugees to access health care and essential health services with the aim of ensuring universal health coverage. Working with national health systems, including with partners such as the World Health Organization, to meet the needs of both refugees and affected host communities has always been part of UNHCR’s approach to health. This strategy is in line with the Global Compact on Refugees and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. More than 70% of refugees live in low- and middle-income countries where national public health systems may be
How has forcible displacement grown, and thus affected the unequal health burdens of refugees and their communities? At the end of 2022, 108.4 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes and communities due to conflict, violence, human rights violations and, increasingly, the consequences of climate change. This is a staggering figure. It heightens the urgency for immediate, collective action to alleviate the causes and impacts of displacement. Forcibly displaced populations face significant hazards on their journeys, including risks to their health and well-being, which are affected by their underlying health and nutrition status.
Interview with Raouf Mazou, assistant high commissioner for operations, United Nations High Commission for Refugees
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