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Policy Brief: Internal Displacement and Health

Published on February 1, 2021
HIDN | hidn

This briefing presents the findings and recommendations of a global workshop of over 30 experts in health research, practice and policy from fifteen countries, which was convened by the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the Internal Displacement Research Programme in February 2021. For further detail, see the workshop outcome report and the background discussion paper for the meeting.
IDPs experience worse morbidity and mortality than other conflict-affected populations Conflict-affected IDPs have significantly worse morbidity and mortality then other populations in, and from, conflict-affected countries. This pattern exists across a range of health areas, including communicable/vectorborne diseases and mental health disorders. This adverse impact of internal displacement on health can be long-lasting, inter-generational and differentiated by gender and age.

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Researching Internal Displacement publishes engaging and insightful short pieces of writing, artistic and research outputs, policy briefings and think pieces on internal displacement.

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A Changing World: Time and the Impact of Aid Reduction on IDP Children

By Jennefer Lyn L. Bagaporo and Chona R. Echavez | May 12, 2026
Geopolitical scenarios and possible aid shifts can cut national budgets in countries with internally displaced persons, weakening services they rely on and increasing household stress—leaving children especially vulnerable and undermining stability and development. The Philippines receives official development aid grants mainly for health and social protection from the United Nations and the United States. Shifting global priorities are likely to reduce future funding for these sectors. To systematically trace the effects of aid reduction on IDP children, this paper - the 13th volume in our series on ‘Internal Displacement in a Changing World Order’ - presents time as an analytical factor. Through a longitudinal cohort study, time-based analysis also presents opportunities to identify sectors that require focus to sustain support for IDP children and policies that necessitate robust, consistent implementation.
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Not Without Housing, Security, and Social Stability: What Quantitative Modeling of Return Movements across Three Crisis Contexts Tells Us about Resolving Internal Displacement

By Roger Guiu and Nadia Siddiqui | May 7, 2026
By examining the behavior and living conditions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) across humanitarian, development, and peace indicators, it is possible to know what matters most to displaced populations seeking to return or remain in a location. Quantitative modeling across Iraq, Syria, and Sudan reveal consistent commonalities in IDP decision-making in this regard. However, these critical elements are often not prioritized initially in international and national crisis responses – if they are dealt with at all. This 12th volume in our series on ‘Internal Displacement in a Changing World Order’ details these findings and their implications, arguing for genuinely centering displaced and conflict-affected populations’ own priorities, wellbeing, and rights as the basis for the resolution of displacement in a changing global order. What is needed is a more robust, simultaneous, and consolidated transversal approach, not a shrunk down status quo.
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On the Edge of Midnight: The Doomsday Clock and the Global Rise of Conflict-Induced Internal Displacement

By Zaldy C. Collado | May 5, 2026
This 11th volume in our series on ‘Internal Displacement in a Changing World Order’ argues that the global rise of conflict-induced internal displacement and the Doomsday Clock both reflect the same underlying conditions of global fragility and instability. The Doomsday Clock symbolically represents how close our species is to existential demise, due to myriad of reasons including nuclear escalation, geopolitical tensions, climate change, biological and technological hazards, and widespread conflict. By contrast, incidents of internal displacement provide an empirical account of how these threats are felt in human terms. In this respect, the significant increase in incidents of conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide manifests the broader risks captured by the Doomsday Clock. This is not a causal relationship. Rather, it suggests that the growth of internal displacement is not merely as a consequence of conflicts, but also an indicator of deeper structural failures in global governance and peacebuilding.
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