Since the onset of the pandemic, public health experts and human rights advocates have sounded the alarm that people in under-resourced refugee encampments and shelters along the U.S.-Mexico border face disproportionate threats from COVID-19. On August 6, 2020, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) hosted a conversation on health conditions in these camps, the legal context forcing people to remain in these dangerous situations, impacts on surrounding communities, and policy recommendations that could save lives.
The conversation was moderated by Vidya Kumar Ramanathan MD, MPH, practicing pediatric emergency physician at St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor Hospital, medical director of the University of Michigan Asylum Collaborative, a physician expert for PHR, and a member of PHR’s Asylum Network.