Leaving no one behind in the Covid-19 Pandemic: a call for urgent global action to include migrants & refugees in the COVID-19 response

Abstract

People on the move, whether they are economic migrants or forcibly displaced persons such asylum seekers, refugees, and internally displaced persons (hereafter called migrants & refugees), should be explicitly included in the responses to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This global public health emergency brings into focus, and may exacerbate, the barriers to healthcare these populations face. Many migrant & refugee populations live in conditions where physical distancing and recommended hygiene measures are particularly challenging. The COVID-19 pandemic reveals the extent of marginalisation migrant & refugee populations face.