Protracted displacement is often implicitly associated with passivity and immobility, and it is not by chance that protracted displacement is often described through the metaphor of ‘limbo’. But people living in protracted displacement are far from immobile. On the contrary,…
Humanitarian Admission Programmes (HAPs) can play an important role as ‘complementary pathways’ for refugees out of protracted displacement, as shown in initiatives by the German government and its federal states during the Syrian war. Such initiatives are particularly effective if…
Public health and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) have rarely been as much in the spotlight as they have been since the global COVID-19 pandemic began in late 2019, making our main feature particularly timely. Although a number of articles…
Forcibly displaced populations are repeatedly exposed to public health risks and threats when they leave behind their social networks, livelihoods, service providers, and infrastructures. Displaced people often see their health weakened during their displacement journey because they lack food and…
Before the emergence of COVID-19, UNHCR had been working for several years in the southern Mexican city of Tapachula on ways to engage with local health authorities to improve access to health services for asylum seekers and refugees. The onset…
Uganda hosts an estimated 1.4 million refugees mainly from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. To improve long-term sustainability, Uganda’s Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) and UNHCR have begun transferring management of water supply schemes to the…
According to one of the foundation stories of public health, in 1854 John Snow removed the handle from a pump in London – the water source used by local residents who were dying of a mysterious disease. At the time,…
The outbreak of COVID-19 has derailed employment and trade, and has jeopardised life in general. The adverse effects of the pandemic are innumerable but have been felt most by the most vulnerable members of the globe – refugees. In the…
Colombia’s Afro-descendant population represents approximately 12% of all internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country. Thousands of Afro-descendant communities and families have been forced to leave their lands, moving to peripheral urban areas in cities such as Bogotá, Medellín and…
