Treatment for refugee children and their families.

Abstract

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR; 2019) estimated that there were 70.8 million forcibly displaced persons worldwide at the end of 2018. More than 25.9 million registered refugees are represented in this number, with nearly 13 million being children (UNHCR, 2019). Examining the child and youth numbers closely, refugee children and youth were 5 times more likely to be out of school compared with their nonrefugee peers (UNHCR USA, 2018a). The 7.4 million of school age had limited access to education-only 61% of refugee children attended a primary school, compared with 91% globally, and 76% of refugee adolescents were not enrolled in any secondary school (UNHCR USA, 2018a). The crisis in Syria alone has accounted for 13 million displaced people, with 4.7 million being children (UNHCR, 2019; UNHCR USA, 2018b). Moreover, there were an estimated 2.4 million very young children (aged birth to 5 years) displaced in refugee camps and urban areas worldwide (UNHCR, 2018b) who were experiencing limited access to adequate health care, early childhood programming, and general resources that ensure very young children are able to meet their developmental agendas.