OECD calls for urgent response to unparalleled refugee crisis

Thinktank says richest countries must unite to solve problem in Europe and help health workers remain in poorer countries

The west's richest countries have been warned by their own influential thinktank that the prospect of a million asylum seekers this year will require an urgent and collective response to the unprecedented refugee crisis that has developed over the past two years.

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which counts 34 of the wealthiest countries in the world as its members, called for a comprehensive plan that would provide both immediate humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers and help to integrate them.

Related: EU governments push through divisive deal to share 120,000 refugees