Members of the Health and Internal Displacement Network (HIDN) today published a new article in the Journal of Migration and Health, titled ‘Understanding the Health Needs of Internally Displaced Persons: A Scoping Review’.
Drawing on almost a year of collaborative work by HIDN researchers and practitioners from around the world, the new article seeks to strengthen understanding of the health needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in contexts of conflict or violence.
The authors identify the limited evidence on IDP health as a concern, but their scoping review of the available evidence nevertheless indicates that IDPs tend to experience worse health outcomes than other conflict-affected populations across a range of health issues; and this is due to the particularly vulnerable situation of IDPs relative to these other populations, including reduced access to health services. The paper concludes that further research is required to better understand these needs and the interventions that can most effectively address these needs.
The authors of the article are HIDN core group members – D. Cantor, J. Swartz, B. Roberts, A. Abbara, A. Ager, Z.A. Bhutta, K. Blanchet, D. Madoro Bunte, J.C. Chukwuorji, N. Daoud, W. Ekezie, C. Jimenez-Damary, K. Jobanputra, N. Makhashvili, D. Rayes, M.H. Restrepo-Espinosa, A.J. Rodriguez-Morales, B. Salami and J. Smith. For further details of each author, please see the HIDN page of the Researching Internal Displacement platform.
Key findings from the scoping review:
- Internal displacement due to conflict or violence can have profound health impacts.
- IDPs tend to experience worse health outcomes than other conflict-affected populations.
- That reflects the particular vulnerabilities of IDPs relative to these other populations.
- Health interventions need to take account of the specific vulnerabilities of IDPs.
Co-author Professor Alastair Ager today commented that he is “anticipating this paper to be significant in encouraging systematic research on the health of IDPs.”
The new article is published in Open Access format. It can be downloaded for free here.