🚨 The Silent Crisis: Health and Protection Vulnerabilities Among Displaced People in Africa

✍️ Authored by the ACSPR Team 
Shaping Africa’s Future with Evidence, Equity, and Innovation for Impact

For millions of people forced to flee their homes, displacement is not just a physical journey – it is a struggle for survival. While headlines focus on borders, statistics, and refugee numbers, the deeper crisis often goes unseen: the erosion of health, safety, dignity, and basic human rights.

Across Africa, displaced persons continue to face a profound humanitarian challenge: limited or no access to health care, increased exposure to gender-based violence, and inadequate shelter, sanitation, and nutrition.

According to the latest UNHCR trends, West and Central Africa alone now host approximately 12.7 million displaced persons. Conflict, climate shocks, political instability, and food insecurity continue to fuel displacement across the continent – and numbers are rising.

Yet while displacement grows, funding and humanitarian response capacity are not keeping pace.

For many displaced families, the nearest clinic may be hours away – under-resourced, understaffed, and overwhelmed.

Healthcare gaps include:

 ● Limited maternal and newborn care
 ● Lack of emergency and trauma treatment
 ● Shortages of essential medicines
 ● Weak mental health support
 ● Limited response capacity for chronic illnesses

Diseases that are preventable, such as cholera, malaria, and respiratory infections, become life-threatening in overcrowded settlements where sanitation is inadequate and clean water is scarce.

Women and girls face heightened risks of sexual violence, exploitation, trafficking, and forced marriage.

Children too – especially those separated from families – are vulnerable to:

● Recruitment by armed groups
● Abuse and neglect
● Disrupted education
● Long-term psychological trauma

Displacement fractures community structures that once provided protection, leaving many without legal support or trusted authorities.

Shelter is more than a tent or roof – it represents dignity and stability. Yet overcrowded camps, temporary structures, and failing sanitation systems make daily living unsafe and undignified.

Key challenges include:

● Overcrowded shelters with little privacy
● Broken sanitation systems accelerating disease
● Unpredictable food supplies and rising malnutrition
● Limited livelihood opportunities for self-reliance

In humanitarian settings, poor living conditions are not just an inconvenience – they amplify illness, vulnerability, and social tension.

Uganda remains one of Africa’s largest refugee-hosting countries and is globally recognized for its progressive refugee policy.

However, recent warnings show that funding shortfalls could force major service reductions: affecting food rations, medical services, and protection programs.

The message is clear: even model systems are now at risk.

To protect displaced populations and uphold humanitarian principles, the response must be integrated, sustained, and people centered.

Key priorities include:

● Strengthening access to essential healthcare, including mental health and reproductive services
● Ensuring comprehensive protection mechanisms for women, children, and vulnerable groups
● Improving shelter, sanitation, and consistent nutrition support
● Investing in durable solutions, including livelihoods and community integration
● Guaranteeing predictable and adequate funding
● Centering refugees and host communities in decision-making processes

Humanitarian response cannot be short term when displacement is long term.

Displaced persons are not just numbers, statistics, or beneficiaries – they are mothers, fathers, students, farmers, survivors, and community builders. They deserve health, safety, dignity, and hope like anyone else.

You don’t need to be a diplomat or an aid worker to make a difference.

Here’s how you can help:

The crisis facing displaced people in Africa is not inevitable – it is preventable. With compassion, resources, and collective action, we can build a response system rooted in dignity, equity, and justice.

Because protecting displaced populations is not just humanitarian work – it is a moral obligation.