这WHO defines流离失所的人as ‘people who have had to leave their homes as a result of a natural, technological or deliberate event’. But whatever the reason, displaced people often have to live in cramped camps with low levels of hygiene and lack of medical care. They also have to make the difficult decision about whether to return home, become integrated into their new country, or move on.

援助机构的困难之一，例如IFRC政府确切地知道有多少人参与其中，以便他们可以提供。这难民署employs full-time statisticians to keep track of the number of refugees, which it publishes in the annual全球趋势报告和挪威难民委员会also releases annual global figures for internally displaced people. In 2011 the UNHCR estimated that there were more than 42 million displaced people worldwide -10.5 million of which were refugees with the UNHCR and a further 4.8 million in camps looked after by the UNRWA.

但是一项发表在国际健康地理杂志may make the difficult business of counting people easier especially during the acute phase. Researchers from the伦敦卫生学院使用高分辨率卫星图像除了公开报告提供的每个家庭人数的估计以及在11个案例中的每一个人数迅速计算（在2-5天内），并产生与人口普查相似的结果，除了住宅非常密集且难以区分的地方。鉴于与人口普查相比的计数速度，这种方法在监测人口规模及其变化方面可能非常有用。

人生活在营地的主要问题之一s is disease. As a case studyMédecinssansantières自1971年以来，为受武装冲突，流行病，自然灾害以及没有医疗保健的人们提供的紧急援助，他们研究了疾病的影响2011年在肯尼亚的达达布难民营大楼。本文在冲突与健康发现在五个半月的调查期间，有200,000名流离失所的索马里人死亡，其中一半以上是五岁以下的儿童。所有死亡人数中有超过三分之二与腹泻，呼吸困难或发烧有关，而17％是由于麻疹疫情引起的。几乎3％的死亡是由于营养不良造成的。

This case study highlights the difficulties and failings of aid organisations and governments to help displaced people. Alarmingly the authors conclude that the high death rates and malnutrition were due to ‘at least a partial failure of the various humanitarian and governmental actors to adequately safeguard the welfare of this population’ and that the ‘outbreak of measles and long delays before registration should not have occurred’.

其他研究BMC International Health and Human Rights表明人口也是性脆弱。营地中传统社区的侵蚀以及有关繁殖和性健康的缺乏信息会使青少年女孩的性捕食，怀孕和包括艾滋病毒在内的性传播疾病的风险增加。

但这并不是所有的坏消息。西南阿尔及利亚难民营的萨哈维难民维持了传统化妆品的制作和使用，发型，清洁牙齿，防晒霜，香水和疗法，以治愈皮肤问题。报告在民族生物学和民族医学杂志，，，，这萨拉维人在其疗法中使用了55种传统的植物物种和18种动物或矿物产品，并付出了额外的长度来采购。这些产品在萨拉维（Sahrawi）的福祉和文化和社会身份中起着重要作用，而且研究表明，难民不仅仅是被动的援助接受者，而且能够在流放中维持其传统的民族生物学实践。

最近的分析虹膜表明难民正在寻找自我依赖而不是讲义。组织等组织时髦的提供创新，技术和私营部门之间的联系，以建立培训和资源流离失所者的技能和愿望。一个好的起点可能是这些人带来的文化传统。

由Biomed Central的科学新闻官Hilary Glover博士