Refugee children and adolescents in Greece: two case reports

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn 2015, in the EU-28 (total population 508 million inhabitants), the number of first-time asylum applicants was 1,255,688; 29% of them were minors (19% under 14 years and 10% between 14 and 17 years). In Greece, more than 710,000 refugees, mainly from Syria (69%) and Afghanistan (21%), arrived by boat in 2015 (Hebebrand et al., 2016; UNHCR, 2016). It is well documented that young refugees have a high prevalence of physical disorders and nutritional deficiencies and are consequently in need of provision of somatic health care. At the same time, as they have been exposed to many risks before, during their journey and upon arrival to the host country, they are vulnerable to developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, mood, externalizing, and other psychiatric disorders. According to some studies, PTSD seems to be related mainly, but not exclusively, to pre-migration experiences, and depression to post-migration stressors such as unsafe asylum status, etc.During the last few years we h...