The following was featured on UN Dispatch to mark the passing of World Malaria Day: 

When Refugees International visited the Nyabiheke camp for Congolese refugees in Rwanda, we asked a doctor there to describe the camp's biggest health problem and her most urgent need. Without hesitation, Dr. Ann Kao said the biggest problem in the camp was malaria, and her biggest need was bed nets to protect families from mosquito bites in their sleep.

When I got home from my visit to south Sudan, a few friends asked how my trip was to Darfur. This is a common error as most people don’t understand that Darfur is only one region of Sudan. With all the much-needed attention devoted to solving the crisis in Darfur, the challenges facing millions of south Sudanese who survived 21 years of war have taken a back seat.  Yet, we will not see peace in all of Sudan – including Darfur – if war returns to south Sudan.

Last month, my colleagues and I travelled around the center of Iraq -- formerly the most violent part of the country -- and visited infamous places such as Eskanderia, in the so-called "Sunni triangle of death" and Fallujah, in Anbar province. Everywhere we went, we met with aid workers, local and central government officials, and of course with displaced Iraqis or families who recently returned to their homes. We spent two weeks trying to find an answer to the key question all displaced Iraqis ask themselves: Can they return home?

When we met with a group of 300 Ethiopian Anyuak refugees in February in Sudan, we had no idea that a week later they would be calling us because they were caught up in heavy fighting between northern and southern Sudanese forces. The Government of Southern Sudan and the United Nations had failed to protect them.

The group had fled in 2003 after their community suffered targeted attacks in Ethiopia. Their experience since arriving in Sudan had not been a good one. They had been forced to move twice after harassment and attacks. Their last move was in December 2008, to the town of Malakal, where they were taken in by a church. All 300 people slept there for weeks, living in dangerously overcrowded conditions. Then the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) found them a temporary place to stay at their way station – a facility which is set up for Sudanese returnees to stay in for a night or two while they await transport back to their home villages.