Refugee mental health—an urgent call for research and action

At the end of 2019, the United Nations (UN) Refugee Agency estimated that there were 26 million refugees worldwide—the highest number ever seen. This growing exodus of refugees from their home countries is triggered by war, civil unrest, political violence, and other humanitarian crises that fail to realize the human rights of millions of people worldwide. According to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, refugees are people forced to flee their home country for fear of persecution based on “race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”