To support national health authorities in countries hosting displaced populations, WHO works with UNHCR, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and other partners to ensure the provision of health services to refugees and host communities. Photo credit: Heba Aly/IRIN.2 July 2013 – More than 55% of the world’s refugee population come from five countries in states of emergency in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, according to a new report by the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR on global refugee trends in 2012.
Out of the 7.6 million people who became refugees in 2012, more than 4 million originated from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic. This is the highest number of refugees since 1994, with the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic being a major factor.
