Snapshots from the ‘RM Child-Health’ initiative in Greece
EU Health programme With funding from the European Union (EU) ‘RM Child-Health Initiative’, UNICEF and its partners have been supporting the health and wellbeing of refugee and migrant children in Greece, with a focus on those who are the most vulnerable. As the initiative draws to a close, we look back at some highlights since its launch in 2020…, 2020: Safeguarding health in a crisis, For refugees and migrants on the Greek island of Lesvos, 2020 was catastrophic. The COVID-19 pandemic had curtailed their already limited movements still further, and the destruction of the once notorious Moria camp triggered a humanitarian crisis. Support from the ‘RM Child-Health’ initiative helped UNICEF and its partners react at speed to these…, 2021: Two mothers, two children and two safe spaces, Mothers with their children, and children who are travelling alone, were among the hundreds of asylum seekers gathering each day at the Greek Asylum Service Offices in Athens and Thessaloniki. Responding to their needs, UNICEF’s partner METAdrasi had created Mother and Child Spaces next to the Offices. Every month in 2021, more than 400 mothers…, 2022: “We have friends here!”, Like Leyla a year earlier, Yezda, a young mother from Iraqi Kurdistan, her husband and their seven children were visiting the Mother and Child Space in Thessaloniki for their last time as they waited to collect their passports and ID cards. They fled Kurdistan to protect their family from conflict and Yezda showed us the wounds she has on her legs…, Taking stock of the ‘RM Child-Health’ Initiative in Greece, Over 3000 children and 2300 mothers benefited from access to services, including psychosocial support, GBV prevention and support and mother and childcare services – almost three times as many as originally targeted for the Initiative. 3600 refugee and migrant children and parents received UNICEF-supported information on GBV prevention and…
Europe and Central Asia
