The Impact of COVID-19 on the Refugees
From Rome to Wuhan to New York, the attention and resources of the world are being directed towards stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Healthcare workers and systems in the most advanced nations are being strained. However, the impact on some of the world’s most vulnerable individuals- refugees, internally displaced people, and asylum seekers- is even more devastating. There are four main factors that intensify the impact of the pandemic on these 70 million individuals, but there are key groups and organizations that are working to support them through this crisis, and there are ways we, individually, can help.
The first exacerbating factor has to do with the fact that many refugees, internally displaced people, and asylum seekers lack access to reliable information and coronavirus updates, which delays responses to the situation and allows the virus to spread. Suspicion of authorities, fake news, and language barriers can prevent asylum seekers without legal status- who are at risk of deportation- from receiving accurate news and can lead to violations of new policies and spreading of the infection.
Another serious challenge is that many individuals within these vulnerable populations are living in situations that make it extremely difficult to follow the guidelines for slowing the spread of the coronavirus. Many internally displaced people live in overcrowded refugee camps and settlements where multiple families share the same tent. Others live in population-dense urban spaces, and irregular migrants are often placed in detentions that are overcrowded and lack sufficient food and water. The inability to maintain proper “social distancing” creates a situation that makes it almost impossible to slow the transmission of the coronavirus.
In addition, the lack of access to nutritious food, clean water, and, above all, intensive healthcare amplifies the problems. Primary healthcare, which at least some resettled refugees have access to, is not sufficient for coronavirus patients who have developed acute respiratory distress syndrome. Furthermore, because of a lack of healthcare back home, refugees leaving war zones or fleeing natural disaster often already suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, malnutrition, infectious disease, and other underlying health conditions, which makes them more susceptible to contracting the coronavirus.
To make matters worse, the resources and intensive healthcare that refugees had access to from relief workers and doctors as well as through humanitarian donations will be strained by the pandemic. Travel restrictions and shortages of food, clothes, and other goods normally donated to refugee settlements and camps will further worsen the situation. Responses to the refugee crisis are already underfunded, and the future economic impact of the pandemic will exacerbate the lack of resources and humanitarian aid that the crisis receives.
However, there are ways that organizations are finding to help resettled refugees even in areas that are in lockdown. Many institutions around the United States that usually work to help resettled refugees by direct outreach in the community are facing unprecedented challenges with maintaining a dynamic feeling of community, but some organizations have continued their work online. For instance, the Yale Refugee Project in New Haven, Connecticut — whose work consists mainly of legal aid translation, youth groups, advocacy, and tutoring — has transitioned to online tutoring and outreach and recently conducted a volunteer search among students. While this is a noble idea, unfortunately, many resettled refugees lack sufficient access to the internet and there are challenges with communication.
During these difficult and unprecedented times, the United Nations Refugee Agency is also creatively and rapidly adjusting to new challenges. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has partnered with Sudan’s Ministry of Health to run large scale awareness campaigns and has so far delivered hygiene products to nearly 300,000 refugees. In Bangladesh, the UNHCR is diligently working to train volunteers and staff in health facilities serving Rohingya refugee camps, where 850,000 refugees reside in extremely cramped conditions. Efforts to implement prevention measures are underway in refugees settlements in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burkina Faso.
In such a dire situation, it’s difficult to find ways to support these efforts besides donating. For those of us in quarantine and looking for something to do, we can check with local organizations that support refugees. Such organizations are often always looking for volunteers who can tutor and just reach out to those in need to foster community. We need to think creatively and maintain communication, and there are many ways to help the efforts digitally. The problem may be global, but there are ways in which each of us can help locally.
Sources:
https://dwighthall.org/yale-refugee-project
