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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: “Dying from Displacement”: During World Refugee Week, MedGlobal Calls Attention to the Suffering of Refugees Worldwide
CHICAGO – Amid World Refugee Week, leading medical aid organization MedGlobal is calling for urgent and sustained action to save lives, increase aid access, and stop the suffering of refugees around the world.
Chicago-based MedGlobal provides health services to displaced communities around the world including Sudan, where nearly 13 million people have fled their homes as a result of the war, Lebanon, where over one million people are currently displaced due to conflict, and Bangladesh, which currently houses over one million Rohingya refugees. MedGlobal teams also work with refugee and displaced populations in Gaza, Colombia, Syria and more.
MedGlobal’s new brief – Dying from Displacement – reveals widening healthcare gaps faced by Rohingya refugees in southern Bangladesh. Rohingyas, the world’s largest stateless population, are subject to severe restrictions on movement, employment and access to services. Most Rohingya are dependent on aid to meet their basic needs, including health care. Protracted camp living, combined with sharply reduced aid financing in recent years, is directly affecting the health of the Rohingya population in Bangladesh.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Lucy Carradine, West End Strategy Team
[email protected]
504-351-7635
“The situation of the Rohingya in Bangladesh is emblematic of the plight of so many of the world’s refugees,” said Joseph Belliveau, Executive Director of MedGlobal. “Displaced people are often caught in precarious in-between spaces where it is too dangerous to return home but where they also face restrictions and sub-adequate support in host countries. Severe aid funding cuts over the past year are compounding the problem. As a result, we are witnessing the deteriorating health status of the Rohingya in Bangladesh. It is not just a matter of access to healthcare; it is also a question of creating the conditions for self-determination and dignified living conditions for people who have often been displaced for a decade or more.”
MedGlobal’s Rohingya assessment found that health services remain operational but are starting to reduce care or even shut down. Existing services are overstretched and less able to deliver consistent quality care, particularly for chronic and complex conditions, and for mental health support. In short, we are witnessing increased treatment interruptions and avoidable suffering, illness, and mortality.
Elsewhere, in Sudan, Gaza, Lebanon, Colombia, and other countries, MedGlobal is also witnessing stagnation or deteriorating support for refugees and, at times, outright abuse and rejection. In the spirit of shared humanity, MedGlobal calls for deeper recognition of the rights and needs of displaced people and the political will to address their challenges.
MedGlobal team members, including staff on the ground in Bangladesh, Lebanon, Sudan, and more, can speak to the dire needs of the world’s refugee population and how the humanitarian community can bring attention to this woefully overlooked crisis.
MedGlobal is a humanitarian nonprofit organization that provides emergency response and health programs to build resilience among vulnerable communities around the world. The organization’s health programs support victims of crisis and conflict, refugees, internally displaced persons, and marginalized communities in disaster-affected and low-resource settings.
