Compounding Impacts: Refugees during and after Covid-19 – a survey of 6 African countries

By Alexander de Jager, Hannah Edler, Gato Ndabaramiye Joshua, Rose Jaji, Ulrike Krause, Khangelani Moyo, Kalyango R. Sebba, Nadine Segadlo and Franzisca Zanker | Issue 26

Photo courtesy of Innocent Kagabo, Creative Commons: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2022.102692

In times of crisis, the most marginalised of any society are hit the hardest. This was evident for the Covid-19 pandemic when pre-existing health inequalities were reinforced unduly. People in countries in the global south were uniquely struck as global inequality increased. According to World Bank estimates 90 million people were pushed into poverty. As the pandemic did not affect all groups equally, it is worthwhile to examine the experiences of an often-neglected group: people experiencing displacement.

To discuss how the pandemic affected the lives of refugees, we draw on two surveys, one we conducted in 2021 with a follow-up in 2022, focusing on six African countries: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe (see prior studies here and here). While 90 respondents participated across six countries in 2021, the number slightly decreased to 75 in 2022. Yet, the gender and age distribution were similar in both surveys; overall, 113 identified as male, 49 as female and three did not give a gender identification. The average age of participants was 41.5 years in 2021 and 39.4 years in 2022. Although the small number of respondents means that the survey is not representative, it still offers valuable insights into the lives of refugees.

The pandemic caused complex and multifaceted challenges for refugees

Refugees were not only confronted with the same problems as citizens of countries in the global south but faced additional challenges. Respondents of the surveys stressed the increased economic difficulties, reduced food security, inadequate healthcare, restricted movement, and rising violence. Difficulties to access healthcare were frequently highlighted. This issue existed even before Covid-19 and therefore the pandemic had a compounding effect. This was confirmed in the initial survey when a respondent indicated the heightened risk of contracting the infection due to “poor hygiene and poor enlightenment on Covid-19 safety and preventive measures”. These problems persisted in the 2022 survey, even when the pandemic was waning. At least three stressors were emphasised: services of both aid agencies and government hospitals remained strained even a year later, a shortage of cash available for spending on healthcare due to economic hardship persisted and, to compound these problems, public health systems had to respond to Ebola and Lassa fever outbreaks. 

Our survey reinforced research on the mental health impact of Covid-19 on refugees. Often ignored and under-reported, it is estimated that one in three refugees suffer from depression.  Yet, in countries in the global south up to 85% of people have no access to mental health support. The long-term mental health impacts of Covid-19 were some of the most jarring issues raised by respondents, with one explaining: “me getting Covid and [dying] was my proposition instead of staying in the world”. A member of a research-led organisation confirmed the severity of the crisis by saying “there is a fear that some of [the] refugee families might continue [to] have suicide cases”. Research shows that during Covid-19, increased xenophobia exacerbated the mental health struggles of refugees. As governments target refugees during pandemics, a respondent in our survey pointed out that in the case of South Africa “xenophobic movements… are using the hardships caused by the pandemic… to scapegoat foreign nationals”.

Respondents in the follow-up survey often focused on the knock-on effects of the pandemic on other parts of their lives. Many noted that, “food has been scarce and expensive”. The increased costs of items were compounded by the economic woes that were experienced after the pandemic as businesses closed during lockdowns and jobs were lost. A survey respondent emphasised that “refugee men and women who lost their employment during the lockdown… and others who lost their businesses are still struggling to get other means of surviving and with the low employment rate and many policies and restrictions on small businesses… it’s not easy for them to get a way out”. This is supported by other studies that reflect refugees being 60% more likely to work in economic sectors hardest hit by the pandemic such as food services or manufacturing and the informal sector especially. Reinforcing the intersectional impacts of Covid-19, survival sex workers lost almost all income, and therefore food security and housing, as their lives under lockdown were devastated.

Many displaced children in these countries already struggled to access education before Covid-19, with the UNHCR reporting that only 63% attended school at a primary level and 24% attended secondary school worldwide. Our survey respondents stressed not only problems accessing education during the lockdowns, but that school attendance remained problematic even after the lockdowns were lifted. Respondents mentioned factors such as fees and not wanting “to remain in the same class after 2 years” resulting in “big numbers of children dropping out of school”. Part of this story is that after the lockdowns ended, children were needed to contribute economically to the household. Several respondents noted that “schools reopened; however, parents lost their businesses due to long lockdown [and], therefore, they are not able to send back… their children [to] school”. 

The academic impact of school closures were significant, with research in Uganda showing that “the share of children who could not even read letters of the alphabet doubled in size”. Our survey also found social impacts, as many displaced youth view schools as a safe place. One respondent noted, “students missed their relatively safe place because of closure of schools”. Loss of this safe place meant that there were “increased rates of sexual and gender based violence” perpetrated on youth and that school closures “increased child marriage” and “a high number of young girls [got] pregnant”. Among several respondents, it was identified that “youth are using alcohol and drug[s]”. Beyond the quantitative impacts on learning, our survey illustrated that the social and personal impacts of Covid-19 on refugees are significant and lasting.

Quo vadis?

In reference to the work of the Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates stressed how “Covid has magnified every existing inequality”. Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of refugees whose challenging situation was aggravated further by the pandemic. Our surveys have provided some glimpse into the lives of refugees during this time that shook the whole world, illustrating how refugees encountered amplifying effects in terms of their economic stability, medical care, psychological well-being and educational opportunities. 

Alexander de Jager

Alexander is a Politics, Philosophy, and Economics graduate from the University of Cape Town and currently a student in the Global Studies Program at the University of Freiburg.

Hannah Edler

Hannah is a researcher at the German Institute for Adult Education, Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning, Bonn, Germany, and PhD candidate at Cologne University, Germany. She previously worked at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) and the Institute of Social Sciences, Osnabrück University. Her research focuses on educational participation after displacement, interactive constructivism, adult and cultural education, agency, and gender.

Joshua Gato

Joshua is a Counselling Psychologist and a trainer in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS. in Uganda. He frequently collaborates with various international research projects and has published on refugees in Uganda

Rose Jaji

Rose is senior researcher at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS). Her research areas of interest are migration/refugees and conflict and peacebuilding. She has published peer-reviewed articles on migrants/refugees and gender, refugees and social technology, identity, asylum seekers, and border crossing, return migration as well as gender and peacebuilding.

Ulrike Krause

Ulrike (she/her) is Professor of Political Science with a Focus on Constitution and Politics of Gender Relations at the Institute for Political Science, University of Münster, Germany, and affiliated research associate at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford, UK. Her research and teaching focus on gender and sexuality, agency, forced migration, conflict, peace, violence, and humanitarianism as well as (post)colonial approaches, (non)knowledge production, and research ethics.

Dr Khangelani Moyo

Khangelani is a Senior Lecturer in the department of Sociology, University of the Free State – Qwaqwa Campus, South Africa. His research interests include migration management, refugee governance, migrant transnationalism, spatial identity in the city and social vulnerabilities in the urban peripheries.

Nadine Segadlo

Nadine is a researcher and a PhD candidate at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) and the Institute of Social Sciences, Osnabrück University. Her research interests focus on the conflict-displacement-peace nexus, humanitarian refugee protection, global policies and norms with a regional focus on African states.

Kalyango Ronald Sebba

Kalyango an academic researcher and East African research lead on a global project on the politics and process of refugee leadership. He is a lecturer in the Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Kyambogo University, Kampala Uganda.

Franzisca Zanker

Franzisca is a senior researcher at the Arnold- Bergstraesser-Institute, Freiburg. Her research focuses on the political interests and agency in (forced) migration in Africa, South of the Sahara. She currently heads the ERC-funded project The Political Lives of Migrants: Perspectives from Africa.