NPR

Opinion: Refugees Are Especially Vulnerable To COVID-19. Don't Ignore Their Needs

While there are no known cases yet of coronavirus infection in refugee camps, the disease may hit these communities hard and it's urgent to mitigate risk, warns
A scene from the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos, Greece, in January.

Muhammad H. Zaman (@mhzaman) is a professor of biomedical engineering and international health at Boston University, and the author of Biography of Resistance: The Epic Battle Between People and Pathogens, to be published by Harper Wave in April.

The message about coronavirus to the public is loud and clear: If you feel sick, call your doctor. There is nothing wrong with the message. But not everyone has the luxury of calling a doctor.

In some of the places I have worked in the last few years — particularly in understanding barriers to healthcare in refugee camps in Pakistan, Uganda and Lebanon — the ability to call

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