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Communicable disease among displaced Afghans: refuge without shelter

Abstract

More than 23 years of warfare in Afghanistan has caused over 6 million Afghans to seek asylum in approximately 70 different countries, with most Afghan refugees settling in the developing countries of Pakistan and Iran. In a developing host country, poor sanitation and nutrition, overcrowding and inaccessibility to health care facilities act synergistically to influence morbidity and mortality from infectious disease in the refugee population. In this Science and Society article we discuss the prevalence of transmissible infection, modes of transmission, associated risk factors, and the state of health and health care in the displaced Afghan population.

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Figure 1: The Afghan refugee population.
Figure 2: Refugee camps in Pakistan.
Figure 3: Afghan refugee settlements in Pakistan.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for this work was partly provided by the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan, grant 20-775, and the Pakistan Science Foundation, grant 232.

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Correspondence to Syed H. Ali.

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Aga Khan University Cancer and Virus Research Group

Infection Control Society Pakistan

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Rajabali, A., Moin, O., Ansari, A. et al. Communicable disease among displaced Afghans: refuge without shelter. Nat Rev Microbiol 7, 609–614 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2176

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