Maintaining health on the move: access and availability for displaced people

The inconsistent levels of safety and security faced during journeys of displacement can result in a parallel journey from health to poorer health. Displacement can move individuals and communities into contexts that make them more vulnerable to health risks. They may become stigmatised and marginalised: perceived as a threat to the health of local populations through diseases they may carry and the access they require to local public health resources.

This chapter explores how the legal requirement to provide the right to health is challenged throughout journeys of displacement through three lenses: the legal position of the individual; the agencies who are legally obliged and legally able to provide healthcare; and how these two factors are affected by the different stages within the journey of displacement. Health conditions that are a direct consequence of displacement will be considered, as well as existing health conditions that need to be managed within the context of displacement.