From Syria to U.S.-Mexico Border, Refugees Worldwide Face Hunger & Deprivation as COVID-19 Spreads

We look at the coronavirus threat to millions of refugees across the globe, where social distancing is often impossible and healthcare is extremely limited. We’re joined by Dr. Miriam Orcutt, executive director of Lancet Migration.

For the estimated 5.6 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, the threat of coronavirus also has led to a crisis of hunger, with the U.N. estimating 70% of refugees cannot afford food. This is a Syrian refugee, Abu Abdallah, speaking along with his wife, Umm Abdallah, from a camp in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. 56 & 70

DR. MIRIAM ORCUTT: Thank you. Yes. Well, we know that currently the levels of forcibly displaced populations — that includes refugees, internally displaced and others — is at the highest levels ever recorded by the U.N. So, 70.8 million people around the world have been forcibly displaced. And actually, the highest number of those are internally displaced people, those who might have been forced to flee their homes from conflict, from violence or from persecution, who may be displaced multiple times within their own country even before they flee across international borders.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Dr. Orcutt, as we mentioned in the introduction to the segment, 70% of Syrians — of course, Syrians constitute the largest number of refugees in the world — 70% of Syrian refugees in Lebanon report that they can’t afford food. If you could talk about that and also the fact that a large number of Syrian refugees are not only in Lebanon, but also in Turkey, which has seen a large outbreak, a significant outbreak, of COVID-19, even though now cases are reportedly declining?

 3.6 million? Covid 19=36