Environmental health conditions in protracted displacement
Citation: Behnke NL, Cronk R, Shackelford BB, et al. Environmental health conditions in protracted displacement: a systematic scoping review. Science of the Total Environment. 2020;726:138234.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: Funding from the Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship through the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Islamic Civilizations, World Vision International, the Sut and Fay Ahuja Fellowship, the UNC Department of Public Policy, the UNC Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, the UNC Environment, Ecology, and Energy Program, the Morehead-Cain scholarship, CVM LLC, Carolina Performing Arts, and the Jon Curtis Student Enrichment Fund.
What is this? There are over 70 million forcibly displaced people worldwide. Often the displaced people live in overcrowded camps and poor environmental health conditions foster the spread of communicable diseases. In this systematic scoping review, the authors searched for peer-reviewed publications and grey literature related to environmental health conditions, exposures, and outcomes related to environmental health in protracted displacement settings, as well as ways to improve related services. They restricted their searches to articles published in English after 1945. They searched for peer-reviewed literature between 23 September 2017 and 12 October 2017, and grey literature between 23 December 2017 and 6 January 2018. They included 213 articles, of which 198 were peer-reviewed publications and 15 were grey literature.
What was found: The most common themes on environmental health conditions were water (70%), sanitation (50%), and crowding (37%). The most common environmental health contaminants were Vibrio cholerae (n = 26, 12%) and Escherichia coli (n = 13, 6%). The main health outcomes include diarrhea, followed by respiratory illness, and malaria. Additionally, the presence of institutional, political, and implementation-related obstacles can prevent the improvement of environment health services.
Implications: The authors of the review stated that the displaced populations should be addressed in international environmental health policies, global development initiatives, and research initiatives. Additionally, more emphasis should be given to longer-term planning and sustainable development.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discussed their findings in the context of place of residence.
This summary was prepared by Joly Ghanawi, checked by Grace Meng and finalized by Helen Worthington.