Global perspective Human stories

FROM THE FIELD: Protecting the displaced in the time of COVID-19

Displacement sites across Yemen continue to see an increased number of people of people seeking refuge from violence.
IOM/Olivia Headon
Displacement sites across Yemen continue to see an increased number of people of people seeking refuge from violence.

FROM THE FIELD: Protecting the displaced in the time of COVID-19

Health

Refugees and displaced people living in camps are amongst the most vulnerable communities across the world and more likely to catch COVID-19 than others, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, an isolation centre has been built to provide health care to Rohingya refugees.
In Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, an isolation centre has been built to provide health care
​​​​​​​to Rohingya refugees. IOM

Social distancing and isolation orders imposed to keep the virus at bay, inevitably pose challenges for people living in cramped formal and informal settlements.

Their situation is made more perilous by insufficient access to health, food and clean water.

Read here how  IOM is changing the way it works to ensure that refugees and the displaced are protected, as far as possible, from being infected by the new coronavirus.