Assessing the Impact of Forced Refugeehood on Women’s Health in South Asia
摘要
Forced displacement and refugeehood is a significant problem all across the globe and South Asian countries play a pivotal role in accommodating this issue to a greater extent. Women, young girls, and adolescent children cover a significant portion of the population who unabatedly get stuck in the constant process of forced migration. One of the pertinent challenges that they face significantly is their health concerns. A healthcare regime is considered as a basic rubric of a society but when it comes to the context of refugee women and girls, such a regime becomes quite a far-reaching concept. Health issues like, menstrual health, puberty issues, sexual health, schematic use of contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy complexities, UTIs, anaemic issues, psychological distress, and other mental health-related concerns are pertinent among refugee women. These issues get aggravated due to the highly challenging environment through which they have to survive in their entire transit time and even when the host states accommodate them in the makeshift, dilapidating camps which are overcrowded and are in want of hygienic surroundings. The scanty toilets and sheer dearth of private spaces for them to deal with these health issues often lead to virulent diseases for them which they themselves remain unaware of due to non-accessibility towards such awareness camps and non-assimilation with the mainstream population. The chapter is dedicated to highlighting the backdrop of some such healthcare challenges and areas that are quite grey for the ‘she refugee’ population in the South Asian region.