Greece is the country of “Xenios Zeus”, the Ancient Greek god of foreigners and hospitality; however, it is also the main point of entry to Europe. Since the beginning of 2014, 1,112,332 refugees crossed the borders of Greece. Overall, 33,677 children and adolescent refugees sought asylum in Greece from 2013 to 2017, while 57,042 refugees are currently being hosted. The rapid entry of refugees into Greece raised the critical issue of health policy. The Greek National Health Service (NHS) faces many challenges. Adequate economic and human support is essential if this situation is to be managed successfully. However, Greece still bears the burden of the economic downturn since 2009. In fact, the crisis led to shortages in crucial equipment, and unmet health needs for both locals and refugees. The NHS deals with traumatic experiences, as well as cultural and linguistic differences. Overcrowded reception centers and hotspots are highly demanding and are associated with severe disease burden. This highlights the importance of guidelines for medical screening, healthcare provision, and a well-managed transition to definitive medical facilities. Furthermore, non-governmental organizations make an essential contribution by ensuring appropriate support to refugee minors, especially when they experience poor access to the NHS.
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Background: The coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19) heavily hit Italy, one of Europe’s most polluted countries. The extent to which PM pollution contributed to COVID-19 diffusion is needing further clarification. We aimed to investigate the particular matter (PM) pollution and its correlation with COVID-19 incidence across four Italian cities: Milan, Rome, Naples, and Salerno, during the pre-lockdown and lockdown periods. Methods: We performed a comparative analysis followed by correlation and regression analyses of the daily average PM10, PM2.5 concentrations, and COVID-19 incidence across four cities from 1 January 2020 to 8 April 2020, adjusting for several factors, taking a two-week time lag into account. Results: Milan had significantly higher average daily PM10 and PM2.5 levels than Rome, Naples, and Salerno. Rome, Naples, and Salerno maintained safe PM10 levels. The daily PM2.5 levels exceeded the legislative standards in all cities during the entire period. PM2.5 pollution was related to COVID-19 incidence. The PM2.5 levels and sampling rate were strong predictors of COVID-19 incidence during the pre-lockdown period. The PM2.5 levels, population’s age, and density strongly predicted COVID-19 incidence during lockdown. Conclusions: Italy serves as a noteworthy paradigm illustrating that PM2.5 pollution impacts COVID-19 spread. Even in lockdown, PM2.5 levels negatively impacted COVID-19 incidence.
Background: Antibody seroprevalence in rural communities remains poorly investigated. We compared the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in two Greek communities in June and July 2021 after the end of the Delta-driven pandemic wave that started in November 2020. One community was affected worse than the other. Methods: The SARS-CoV-2 IgG II Quant method (Architect, Abbott, IL, USA) was used for antibody testing. Results: We found a high rate of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity in both communities, approaching 77.5%. In the area with a higher burden of COVID-19, Malesina, seropositivity was achieved with vaccine-acquired and naturally acquired immunity, whereas in the low-burden context of Domokos, the high rates of seropositivity were achieved mainly with vaccination. Previously infected individuals were less likely to be vaccinated than previously uninfected adults. The antibody titers were significantly higher in previously infected, vaccinated participants than in unvaccinated ones. In total, 4% and 10% of the unvaccinated population were diagnosed seropositive for the first time while not knowing about the previous infection. Age and gender did not impact antibody titers in high- or low-burden contexts. Conclusions: Before the Omicron pandemic wave, herd immunity was reached in different contexts in Greece. Higher antibody titers were measured in infected vaccinated individuals than in infected unvaccinated ones.
Background: The Greek National Health System (NHS) has been profoundly affected by the synergy of the economic and refugee crises. We aimed at evaluating the public interest regarding refugee and healthcare issues in Greece. Methods: Google Trends was employed to normalize traffic data on a scale from 0 to 100, presented as monthly relative search volume (RSV) for the search term queries: “refugees”, “health”, “diseases”, “hospital”, and “economic crisis” in Greece, from the period 2008 to 2020. Cross-country comparisons in selected European countries were made. Results: The analysis of RSV data showed an upward trend for the keyword “refugee”, in Greece, in the last five years, with two remarkable peaks from 2015 to 2016 and from 2019 to the present. Interest regarding refugees was more prevalent in the Aegean islands compared to the mainland. The mass influx of refugees has been linked to disease-related concerns. The search terms “hospital” and “health” have been the most popular and constantly quested topics since the beginning of the economic crisis in Greece, in 2009. Similar trends existed across Europe. Conclusion: There is an urgent need for effective public awareness of current politico-ethical and social-economic conditions. The patterns of public interest can formulate public policy.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization that was initiated in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference and formally created in 1945 by 29 member countries, in order to assist in the reconstruction of the world's international payment system post-World War II. The IMF presently has 188 member countries, and its stated goals are to ensure the stability of the international monetary and financial system, resolve crises and work with its member countries to promote growth and alleviate poverty. The tools that IMF uses are lending, economic surveillance, technical assistance and training, underpinned by research and statistics. During the years, the IMF has lent funds in various developing and developed countries around the world. IMF effectiveness, however, in achieving its goals is in question. There have been many cases of countries where the IMF has lent funds and people's lives have actually gotten worse. Social indicators like health, education, employment, poverty and income inequality statistics can be used in order to test the validity of this statement. Consequently, the goal of the current article is to examine the course of social indicators in countries where the IMF has intervened, and assess its effectiveness in achieving its goals.
Background: The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global issue. The relationships between temperature and incidence, transmission, or survival of many enveloped coronaviruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) have been previously widely investigated. However, there has been a lively debate in the literature over whether higher temperatures modulate coronaviruses’ infectivity and spreading, which sets a fertile ground for research on a global scale. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between day-to-day temperature variability and daily COVID-19 incidence rate, as well as the time is taken to reach the total number of 200 confirmed COVID-19 cases within the worst-hit countries by the pandemic. Methods: A within and among countries analysis of the relationship between daily fluctuations in the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases and temperature for the period starting from 31st December 2019 to 29th March 2020, was conducted. The 46 worst-hit countries by the pandemic were included in the analysis.Results: What emerges from our results is that daily new COVID-19 cases were negatively correlated with daily temperature variation. Moreover, higher temperatures were positively correlated with a longer time to reach a standard number of confirmed COVID-19 cases within countries. Notably, countries with daily average temperatures below 20°C had a faster transmission rate than countries with higher daily average temperatures. Conclusions: Our study provides further insights into the hypothesis that there is an association between temperature and rate of COVID-19 spread within a country.
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