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CHAPTER 17
GLOBAL HEALTH: REFUGEES AND CARING FOR THE FORGOTTEN
Overview
This is a new chapter on “global health” with special attention to growing migration crises in
many parts of the world, especially the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. We also include
some revised sections of the Food and Hunger chapter from the 6th edition of the text. In
recent years the media has focused on some 65 million displaced people the world over who
have fled their homes due to war, famine, drought, and many indirect causes, including
poverty, overpopulation, weak state institutions, corruption, and environmental destruction.
The plight of migrants and refugees is interconnected with many IPE issues such as global
security, the distribution of global wealth and power, and social transformation. IPE scholars
and medical researchers have shown increasing interest in refugees as part of a greater
Key Terms
•
migrants
•
refugees
•
displaced people
•
internally displaced people (IDPs)
•
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
•
asylum seekers
•
World Health Organization (WHO)
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accompaniment
Teaching Tips
• U.S. students are currently very interested in the issue of refugees and migrants (and many
European students have been interested in the issue for over a decade). Many students may
have already looked at this issue in other social science and humanities courses.
• Start class with a short (4-7 minute) video from YouTube that covers the international
dimensions of refugee crises or a refugee crisis in a specific geographical region. After the
video, discuss with students how much they know about the issue and what their views on
it are.
• This chapter provides another opportunity to use the different IPE perspectives, levels of
analysis, and IPE structures when asking students about the causes of and solutions to
refugee crises. In addition, ask students if they think migrants and refugees are a threat to a
country’s national security. Bring in constructivist insights when discussing how coverage
of refugee issues is “framed” in a certain way for political or social purposes. Finally, raise
the question of how we might reconcile the role of nation-state agencies with the work of
IOs and NGOs that manage refugee crises.
• For some students the issue of global health itself is not that exciting. Many students think
of global health in purely medical terms. We think that global health can be a more
Sample Essay Questions
1. The Discussion Topics at the end of the chapter can easily be adapted for different essay
assignments. For example:
o Using some of the IPE concepts and tools, explain 4-5 ways in which the topics of
global health and refugees intersect. Explain some of the ways in which one topic
helps “reimagine” the other.
o Choose one of the chapter’s four case studies of refugees and outline some of the
political-economic issues that each of the four IPE perspectives would highlight in
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d) CARE
7) Which of the following is an NGO in Syria that rescues people from bombed buildings
and fighting?
a) MSF
8) Which country has the largest number of Syrian refugees?
a) Jordan
9) Which of the following countries has some of the most generous resettlements policies in
Africa?
a) Kenya
10) Since 2012 Australian officials have held hundreds of male migrants and asylum seekers
on this island for up to four years while they waited for judicial proceedings to determine
where they will go.
d) Manhattan
11) Which of the following statements about the Rohingya situation in Burma is false?
a) The Myanmar government has for many years denied the Rohingya citizenship and
12) Who popularized the argument that over-bureaucratized, inefficient, and sometimes
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d) Paul Collier
13) Which noted expert below is most closely associated with the idea of “accompaniment”?
a) Paul Collier
d) Bill Gates
15) Which of the following statements related to “lifeboat ethics” is false?
a) It is ethical to let the hungry in developing nations die rather than give them aid that
would not sustain them over the long run.
16) Which of the following statements about either “food security” or “food sovereignty” is
false or incorrect?
a) Food security exists “when all people, at all times, have physical, social and
economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs
17) Which of the following statements about food and hunger is incorrect?
a) Between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of the world’s population that is malnourished
fell significantly.
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18) Which of the following countries gives the most foreign aid (official development
assistance) as a percentage of its gross national income?
a) The United States
Suggested Readings and Links
Andrée, Peter, Jeffrey Ayres, Michael Bosia, and Marie Josée Massicotte, eds. Globalization and
Food Sovereignty: Global and Local Change in the New Politics of Food. Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 2014.
De Waal, Alex. Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine. Medford, MA: Polity Press,
2018.
Audiovisual Resources
4.1 Miles. Daphne Matziaraki, dir. 2016. Produced at the Graduate School of Journalism,
University of California, Berkeley in association with The New York Times Op-Docs and
Aquarius: Rescue in Deadly Waters. Frank Dhelens and Jean-Paul Mari, dirs. Point du Jour
and Public Sénat, 2017. Documents the efforts of the crew of SOS Méditerranée’s ship
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Aquarius to rescue migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea. At
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kTVjj3pcxn8.
Fire at Sea. Gianfranco Rosi, dir. 21unoFilm, 2016. Nominated for an Academy Award for
Best Documentary Feature, this excellent film documents the difficulty mostly Africans
have had crossing from Libya to the Italian island of Lampedusa. The film is about the
people on the island and how they are dealing with the immigration crisis, while the
documentary explores the many problems the Italian Navy has implementing the Mare
Nostra program of search and rescue for the missing, those whose craft is in danger of
sinking, and those who simply need help after the grueling trip. Many shots are difficult to
watch—dead people in the bottom of overcrowded boats, women with children, and other
horrible conditions. There are sequences dealing with what happens to migrants after they
arrive and how they are processed. We cannot recommend this film enough. It will totally
engross students and instructors alike.
Inside Yemen. A four-part series that aired on PBS NewsHour in May 2018. Reporter Marcia
Biggs examines the humanitarian crisis—especially health problems, the spread of
diseases, and malnutrition.
Syria’s Disappeared: The Case Against Assad. Sara Afshar, dir. Afshar Films, 2017.
Documents cases of Syrians killed in detention centers during the civil war.
The Unwanted. Reported by Bob Woodruff. ABC News Nightline, 2017. Documents
Rohingya fleeing from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/rohingya-fleeing-lives-myanmar-head-
bangladesh-49672301.
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