As drought and conflict once again push Somalia to the brink of famine, see how a baby whose story alerted the world to his country's suffering was rescued from starvation six years ago.

Ten years ago, Hamida was forced to start her life again after her family left Syria due to conflict. Today, she’s following her dream as a professional photographer in Amman, Jordan.

Mid-December 2022, the International Rescue Committee published its annual Emergency Watchlist, identifying the 20 countries in the world most at risk to face a severe humanitarian crisis or a deterioration of an ongoing humanitarian crisis in 2023. Once again, our unique methodology based on 67 indicators and discussions with key stakeholders in the region, concluded that the situations in 5 West African countries are of high concern. Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria are all countries where conflict, climate change, and economic turmoil impact the lives of millions of people and limits their access to quality health, education, and protection services, food, and sometimes, even to benefit from humanitarian assistance. These countries need the world’s attention to help displaced and host populations survive, recover, and rebuild their lives. This report aims to dive into these contexts and unpack the accelerators of the humanitarian crisis to then better identify the guardrails that decision makers need to rebuild so people can move from harm to home.

Global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have collided with long-standing sexual and reproductive health inequities. While COVID-19 has had a significant, and in some cases devastating, impact on health systems around the world, studies show that people whose human rights are least protected—such as refugees, displaced peoples, and conflict-affected populations—are the ones who suffer the most. The IRC’s work in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh—home to the world’s largest refugee settlement—inevitably became more challenging during COVID-19. This assessment explores the intersecting impacts of the pandemic on the demand, access, and delivery of SRH services and protective measures. It incorporates the perspectives of women, girls, and boys from Rohingya and host communities, as well as service providers (e.g., frontline health workers, doctors, midwives, etc.) and other key informants (e.g., local officials, NGO staff, etc.). It was also intended as a learning exercise, so that SRH services can be more accessible and prioritized during future public health emergencies.

Right now some 60 million people around the world are living in limbo, having been forced to flee their homes by war, conflict and persecution. That's more lives uprooted than at any time since World War II.