Nepal, July 13 -- Perhaps the most effective health interventions in the battle against Covid-19 so far have been behavioural: social distancing and improved hygiene, especially hand-washing. For the world's 70 million displaced people-especially the millions living in cramped camps and informal settlements-such habits can be virtually impossible. Add to that limited access to health-care services, a lack of reliable information about the virus, and governments' focus on protecting their own citizens, and the risks of devastating Covid-19 outbreaks among displaced populations are rising fast.

Refugees International recently sounded the alarm about these risks, and offered sensible recommendations to help mitigate them, such as reducing o...