Around the world, refugees are using their skills to help the communities in which they live. The #RefugeesRise campaign is about recognizing, supporting and amplifying the actions which refugees are undertaking as frontline actors protecting communities in this global public health crisis. These frontline workers include Mahdia Zahidi, an asylum seeker nurse in Australia working 10-hour shifts in her local clinic; Muhadesa, a teacher who volunteers to help with remote education; and Javad, who provides emergency food packages to undocumented refugees in Iran and Afghanistan.

To ground these perspectives, APNOR held virtual consultations with refugees and asylum seekers in the early stages of the pandemic to find out how they are responding locally. These consultations also served to promote awareness and disseminate information to communities which may not have easy access to information. WeTo this end, APNOR has drawn on the expertise of refugee doctors and nurses to host live online events in Arabic, Assyrian, Kurdish, Farsi, Dari and English which allow refugees to ask questions and hear from healthcare professionals in their own language. With the support of refugee nurses and doctors, the campaign has also produced bilingual education videos on COVID-19 prevention.