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.

Internal conflict forced 2.58 million Afghans to flee in 2012, mainly to Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In Somalia, almost 8% of the population (1.13 million Somalis) became refugees, joined by 569 200 Sudanese and 746 400 Iraqis. Escalating conflict and violence in the Syrian Arab Republic forced 728 500 people to flee the country by the end of 2012, although this number has now more than doubled as of June 2013.