Health program for asylum seekers: exploring challenges during implementation in Reception and Identification Centers

The refugee-immigrant crisis in recent years has concerned the world community as well as Greece which, in addition to managing the flows, was asked to create health programs to deal with the health problems of asylum seekers and to protect public health Purpose: The purpose of this project was initially to investigate the challenges and problems faced by health professionals, in Reception and Identification Centers and in accommodation structures, during the exercise of their duties. Through this investigation, the results were compared with similar investigations. Material and Method: The research was conducted with a sample of 72 people through the completion of an anonymous questionnaire which included demographic data of the respondents and the accommodation structures and questions about the health level of asylum seekers in the past and during their stay in the Greek facilities, the characteristics of daily medical visits, the needs of health professionals to serve the asylum seekers and finally the most important challenges they face in the exercise of their duties. Results: Chronic diseases are the greater percentage of daily visits, while low rates of daily visits related to communicable diseases, mental health issues, pediatric and gynecological/obstetrical issues were found. In addition, it was found that asylum seekers have low vaccination coverage and their knowledge about health issues is limited. It was also established that the problems they face in the exercise of their duties mainly concern the lack of specialized personnel and medical equipment, the cooperation with other health structures mainly of secondary and mental care, communication and cross-cultural mediation. Conclusions: The refugee phenomenon creates an unstable and constantly changing environment. The health challenges are many and the creation of a holistic health program for asylum seekers is considered essential. The challenges faced by health professionals can act as barriers to access of PoCs to health services and lead to unmet health needs putting both the individual health of PoCs and public health at a disadvantage.

Keywords: asylum seekers, refugee phenomenon, health program, health needs of Asylum seekers