Health Care for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the Setting of Refugee Camps at Europe’s Entry Points

Abstract

St. Elizabeth University, Bratislava, and its Tropic team has had an active participation in refugee and migrant humanitarian aid since 2015. In the beginning, it was mainly providing health care in the border areas of Hungary, Serbia, and Slovenia, which represented transit points on the route to Western European final destinations. The uncontrolled influx of fleeing people (mainly Syrians at that time) was stopped in March 2016. The diplomatic EU-Turkey deal and subsequent closure of Balkan borders resulted in an extensive humanitarian catastrophe when thousands ended up stranded in Greece. Since then, the members of St. Elizabeth’s Tropic team operate in affected Greek areas. At first, the University had its presence in the northern part of mainland Greece, which later moved to Lesbos Island. Cooperating closely with the Greek Ministry of Health as well as with multiple non-governmental non-profit organizations registered in Greece. The Topic team focuses on refugee health care inside as well as outside the Greek refugee camps.