Aegean Islands Lesvos MSF has been working on the island of Lesvos since July 2008, adapting its activities according to the needs of the migrants and asylum seekers that arrive there. After originally working in the Reception and Identification Centre in the Moria camp, MSF suspended its medical and mental health activities there in response to the EU Turkey Deal in March 2016. In October 2016, MSF opened a clinic in the town of Mytilene for asylum seekers and migrants. The clinic provided primary healthcare, care for chronic diseases, sexual and reproductive healthcare, and mental healthcare. Since August 2017, the services of this clinic started to be focused on the medical and mental health needs of victims of violence, survivors of torture and sexual violence, and patients with severe mental health conditions. In late November 2017, MSF also set up a clinic close to Moria camp to improve the access to medical care for the asylum seekers and migrants who stay there over the winter months. The clinic has since been offering primary healthcare for children, including vaccinations, as well as antenatal and post-natal care, and family planning for women and mental health support to children. MSF refers patients to the local hospital for emergency cases, and specialized care including high-risk pregnancies. In January 2018, group psychosocial and psycho-education activities started for children and unaccompanied minors with traumatic symptoms. In the group therapy psychologists and cultural mediators used storytelling to help children work through their past and present traumas. Key challenges • Living conditions in Moria exacerbating the medical and mental health conditions of patients • The lack of services, particularly psychological, psychiatric and legal, for the population of Moria • Barriers and long delays to the transfer of vulnerable mental health and VoT patients to the mainland to access care • Victims of sexual violence in Greece, and lack of protection for these victims. 10 Mental healthcare In 2018, 206 patients were treated in our Mytilene clinic. Twenty-four percent of them came from Cameroon, 19 percent from Democratic Republic of Congo and 10 percent from Afghanistan. More than a third of them were women. Also, 77 percent of the patients reported to our staff that they had experienced torture or sexual violence, and a third of these had experienced both. Medical doctor activity In 2018, MSF medical teams carried out 12,116 paediatric consultations. Almost 60 percent of the consultations concerned children under the age of five. Most of the conditions treated were likely linked to the poor hygiene conditions in the camp, including upper and lower respiratory tract infection (43 percent), watery diarrhoea (10 percent) and skin diseases, such as scabies and lice (14 percent). Sexual and reproductive healthcare In 2018, MSF offered antenatal and post-natal care, family planning, care for survivors of sexual violence and we facilitate referrals to a local health facility for high risk pregnancies, advanced methods of contraception and termination of pregnancy.
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