Italy

Italy has long been a landing point for migrants and refugees.

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In 2015 more than 153,000 people arrived by sea, mainly from countries such as Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan and Syria.

New arrivals face many health challenges when reaching Italy, in both reception and detention centres.

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) first worked in Italy in 1999.

MSF's work in Italy: 2015

The reception system in Italy suffers from serious shortcomings as a result of the lack of political will to manage new arrivals. Access to humanitarian assistance and international protection for those in need is in no way guaranteed.

Throughout 2015, MSF undertook bilateral meetings and public advocacy efforts to call a change in the Italian reception system. A report was submitted to the Italian Parliament in November detailing problems at the primary reception centre in Pozzallo, such as overcrowding and poor hygiene conditions, and making recommendations for improvements.

No changes were made and at the end of the year MSF made the difficult decision to cease activities in the centre.

MSF worked inside Pozzallo’s first reception centre providing medical care. More than 3,000 consultations had been carried out by year’s end.

MSF also launched a programme focusing on mental healthcare in 16 reception centres in Sicily’s Ragusa province, temporary home to 400 refugees and migrants. A team of two psychologists and several cultural mediators screened all new arrivals for psychological vulnerabilities and provided care to those in need. The team carried out 1,052 individual mental health consultations and organised 69 group sessions for 549 people.

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Psychological first aid

As the migrants and refugees had had arduous and often traumatic journeys, MSF began offering psychological first aid to those in urgent need of support upon arrival in Sicily. From May, a team made up of cultural mediators and a psychologist were on standby to deploy to different landing ports in Italy within 72 hours of receiving an alert. They responded 14 times in eight Italian ports, assisting 2,500 people.

In Rome, MSF launched a project in October working with asylum seekers who have been the victims of torture, in collaboration with Medici Contro la Tortura. In total, there were more than 340 consultations.

Shelter and medical care in Gorizia

Towards the end of the year in the northern city of Gorizia, on the border with Slovenia, a team provided medical care, shelter and assistance to hundreds of refugees who had been sleeping outdoors next to a river. In December, MSF opened a temporary centre there, made from 25 converted shipping containers, with a capacity of 96.

Find out more in our 2015 International Activity Report