Armed conflict, displacement, and access to healthcare

The question of healthcare is critical to displacement. At least 79.5 million people have been uprooted from their homes by armed conflict and other emergencies worldwide. 29 million of these are from Africa, half of which are children under the age of 18. The fate of refugees and displaced persons especially in the third world (Africa) reflect one of precarious existence characterized by malnutrition, hunger, poverty, disease, and acute insecurity.Admittedly, healthcare and other humanitarian relief assistance to the displaced (during complex emergencies) are often uncoordinated, haphazard, inadequate, and unsustainable, either due to lack of logistics,personnel or human resource requirements, or unavailability of needed resources. Focusing on selected refugee and internally displaced camps in West Africa, this study explores the level of healthcare assistance received by refugees and displaced persons from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), international organizations (IOs), local and international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs).