Over 7.1 million Bangladeshis were displaced by climate change in 2022, a number that could reach 13.3 million by 2050, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

To support countries and territories to build professional competence and capacity to adequately address refugee and migrant health issues, the World Health Organisation is organising the third edition of its annual Global School on Refugee and Migrant Health in Dhaka with a focus on capacity-building.

Over five days, from November 28 to December 2, policymakers, UN partner agencies, academia, members of civil society, and stakeholders at the Global School will exchange knowledge and experiences to address key elements of capacity-building.

The e-learning hybrid event hosted by the Ministry of Health, Bangladesh, will be streamed globally.

Since 1978, Bangladesh witnessed three major influxes of forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals, totalling more than 1 million people each with unique medical needs and housed in one of the world’s largest and most densely populated camps in Cox’s Bazar.

“Migration and displacement can have deep and long-lasting impacts on physical and mental health and well-being, and cultural and linguistic differences, financial barriers, stigma and discrimination can all hamper access to health services for refugees and migrants,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, today.

Globally, one in eight or over one billion people today are migrants with 281 million international migrants and many million individuals who are stateless, WHO said.

“Not only has Bangladesh provided them access to free health care — including, most recently, Covid-19 vaccines — but it has also made concerted efforts to address key social, economic, environmental, and legal vulnerabilities,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director of WHO South-East Asia.

“The yearly Global School on Refugee and Migrant Health is a flagship of the WHO Health and Migration Programme and an opportunity to strengthen the strategic and operational collaboration with Regional and country offices on refugee and migrant health towards the implementation of the Global Action Plan on promoting the health of refugees and migrants 2019-2023 (GAP),” said Dr Santino Severoni, director of the Health and Migration Programme.

Open to all audiences, the Global School aims to reach a diverse audience of policymakers, health sector managers, and officers working at different levels within Ministries of Health.