Refugees & Health

The insecurity that refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) face extends far beyond the guns and blasts of war. It includes lack of access to food, health care, housing, employment, and clean water and sanitation, as well as loss of community and homes. Forced displacement, especially within nations, increases people’s vulnerability to negative population-level health impacts and rates of indirect war deaths. 

Over the course of the post-9/11 wars, over 38 million people in the war zones of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya, and Syria were displaced, either abroad or within their own countries. This is a conservative estimate; the figure could be as high as 49-60 million.

Many displaced persons, usually poorer migrants who lack the finances to travel abroad, have to relocate within their countries. In Afghanistan as of March 2022, there were approximately four million internally displaced people (IDPs), almost 60% of whom were children under age 18. These IDPs often face grossly inadequate living conditions and experience high rates of malnutrition and mental health challenges; meanwhile they often  lack access to healthcare, with particularly serious consequences for maternal and infant mortality.

After the 2003 U.S. invasion and again during heightened violence between 2014-2017, millions of Iraqis were displaced. Engineers, artists, lawyers, academics, doctors, and other professionals were among the first to escape the war. This migration had a negative impact on Iraq's healthcare system, dismantled many of Iraq's cultural institutions and stripped Iraq of many services. Meanwhile, crucial health indicators in Iraq have worsened since the 1990s, when the U.S. imposed economic sanctions that were devastating for the Iraqi people.

Refugees abroad face many difficulties including fear of deportation, anxiety about the future, difficulty in renewing visas, and the denial of civil rights and services. Some who managed to escape the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq fled to nearby states including Pakistan, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, and Iran. The refugee influx into these countries strained their resources and the livelihoods of their urban working classes.

When Afghan refugees repatriate, they return to a country plagued by war, poverty, and lawlessness. Comparing before the U.S. invasion (pre-2001) and after the war (2022), the percentage of Afghans facing food insecurity and living in poverty, as well as children experiencing acute malnutrition, all significantly increased. 

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Key Findings

• The number of war refugees and displaced persons from the U.S.-led post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya, and Syria is estimated at over 38 million.

• Since the start of the post-9/11 wars, at least 5.9 million Afghans have fled the country or been internally displaced. 

• As of March 2023, more than 1.1 million Iraqis remain displaced

• Internal displacement is associated with higher rates of indirect deaths.

(Page updated as of October 2024)