Exploring the impact of multidimensional refugee vulnerability on distancing as a protective measure against COVID-19: The case of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Turkey

BACKGROUND: The unequal physiological and socioeconomic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic across the world are revealing the multidimensional components of health and vulnerability. As governments have pushed physical and social distancing as protective strategies, this study explores the extent to which this approach is relevant for Syrian refugees living in Lebanon and Turkey. METHODS: This qualitative study draws on 11 interviews with refugee experts and development practitioners (3) and Syrian refugee families (4 from Turkey, 4 from Lebanon) during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a review of recent literature. In addition, it draws on 71 semi-structured interviews with staff at NGOs supporting refugees (48 from Turkey, 23 from Lebanon) collected in 2018. Qualitative data analysis software ATLAS.ti 8 was used to perform content-based thematic analysis using both deductive and inductive coding. FINDINGS: The study finds that distancing—physically and socially—can be ineffective as a disease protection strategy in Syrian refugee communities. This is influenced by six major interconnected dimensions of refugee vulnerability—political, material, spatial, physiological, psychological and sociocultural—which collectively form an interdisciplinary framework to guide more relevant COVID-19 interventions in refugee communities. The inability to distance is not necessarily rooted in lack of knowledge. Rather, when the inside conditions of living are crowded and unhygienic, but also include cultural expectations of familial care, and the outside conditions of survival-necessitated work are perpetuated through precarious political protections, distancing becomes impractical in application, despite the sense of internalized responsibility to keep one another safe. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that more relevant COVID-19 interventions and protection measures must consider the non-physiological manifestations of disease across multiple dimensions of vulnerability to mitigate decreased distancing abilities in settings of refugee life.