Assessment and Treatment of Psychosocial Problems in Refugees in Zambia

Abstract

In 1968 there were 750,000, and in 1985, over six million, refugees in Africa.1 Ethiopia has been the biggest refugee producer: in 1980, 3.5 million were affected1.8 million were displaced within the country, and 1.7 million fled to Somalia or Sudan [1. P. 47]. The Mozambican government has estimated that there are more than a million displaced persons within the country, and several hundred thousand have fled to neighboring countries. In South Africa more than three million black people have been relocated; and in 1980, over eight million were living in wrong areas, which made them vulnerable to involuntary uprooting [2]. Refugees in Africa fall into two categories [3. P. 9]: 1. Large groups of rural refugees, who cross the borders of their country of origin and seek asylum in a neighboring area, which often is similar to their home environment, including from cultural and ethnic points of view. In the country of asylum, the usual solution to the problem of an influx of refugees is the creation of organized rural settlement areas.