Child Morbidity and Disease Burden in Refugee Camps in Mainland Greece

Abstract

The crisis conflicts in Syria have forced a lot of people to relocate and live in mainland Greece, where they are hosted in refugee camps. In the present study, our aim was to assess child morbidity and overall disease burden in two camps in northern Greece during a six-month winter period. A primary health care office was founded in each camp. Refugees of all ages with health problems were examined daily by specialty doctors. Cases were classified into two categories: Infectious or non-infectious. In total, 2631 patients were examined during this period (out of the 3760 refugees hosted). Of these patients, 9.8% were infants, 12.7% were toddlers, and 13.4% were children. Most of the visits for children aged less than 12 years old were due to infectious diseases (80.8%). The most common sites of communicable diseases among children were the respiratory tract (66.8%), the skin (23.2%), and the urinary (3.2%) and gastrointestinal tracts (6.2%). Non-communicable diseases were mostly due to gastrointestinal (20.2%), respiratory (18.2%), surgical (13.1%), and allergic (10.3%) disorders. Infants, toddlers, and children suffered more frequently from respiratory infections, while in adolescents and adults, non-infectious diseases were more common. Toddlers and children were more likely to fall ill in comparison to infants. Conclusions: During the winter period, infectious diseases, especially of the respiratory tract, are the main reason for care seeking among refugees in Greek camps, with toddlers suffering more than other age groups. The overall mortality and referral percentage were low, indicating that adequate primary care is provided in this newly established refugee hosting model.

Pediatric Healthcare Utilization in a Large Cohort of Refugee Children Entering Western Europe During the Migrant Crisis

“…A plethora of further analyses showed that refugee children are at particular risk for diseases such as depression, infections, or poorly managed chronic diseases [4,5,6,7]. We and others previously identified children arriving in Europe during the current crisis to be particularly vulnerable to physical trauma and infectious diseases during their flight [8,9,10,11,12,13]. Besides psychological and physical trauma during displacement, malnutrition, poor hygiene, and overcrowded living conditions further add to the particular risk of refugee children for increased morbidity [1,14].…”

Health Security and the Refugee Crisis in Greece: The Refugee Perspective

“…Infants had better health than children or toddlers. There was no association between illness and gender [15].…”

“…The international public health community is concerned about childhood morbidity in the refugee camps of Greece. Kampouras et al was one of the first groups to investigate and report on the disease burden of camps among children [15]. They divided the illnesses that occurred over the winter of 2016-2017 into infectious and non-infectious categories.…”

“…This resulted in between 10,000 and 20,000 asylum seekers who were unable to leave Greece and becoming confined to refugee camps where they were trapped and forced to live under poor economic and health conditions [13,14]. Over time, this number has now has swollen to over 60,000 people [15]. In effect, since 2011 one half of the Syrian population has been displaced, either as refugees to another country or internally (secondary to conflict, poverty, food insecurity or loss of infrastructure) [16].…”

Infectious Diseases among Refugee Children

“…Priority infectious diseases affecting refugees and other newly arriving migrants to high-income countries include tuberculosis (TB) (active and latent), HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, vaccine-preventable diseases (such as measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and Haemophilus influenzae type b), and parasitic infections (such as strongyloidiasis and schistosomiasis) [4,[22][23][24]. In the EU and EEA, infectious diseases are the most common cause of illness in migrant children living in refugee camps and other reception areas, including acute respiratory tract infections, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, and skin infection (e.g., scabies, pediculosis); gastrointestinal infection (e.g., shigellosis); typhoid fever; hepatitis A; tuberculosis; and malaria [25,26]. In this article, we discuss the priority infectious disease affecting refugee children, review guidelines for evaluation and screening tests, and address preventative measures through immunizations.…”