Sicily and southern ports

Although there has been a constant flow of arrivals over the past few years, the Italian authorities have not developed an adequate reception system to respond to their specific humanitarian needs. In 2016, MSF launched a mental healthcare project in 16 reception centres in Sicily’s Trapani province, where a team consisting of cultural mediators and three psychologists screened asylum seekers for psychological vulnerabilities and provided care to those in need. The team assisted a total of 641 patients during 99 group and 626 individual sessions. Many displayed post-traumatic or  psychosomatic reactions or symptoms of anxiety and/or depression, as a consequence of past traumas and the precariousness of their current situation. In addition, with the growing number of deaths at sea, MSF assisted people on disembarkation showing signs of trauma, for example from being shipwrecked or witnessing deaths at sea, by providing  psychological first aid (PFA). Between May and December, 31 PFA operations were conducted in several Italian ports, mainly in Sicily, Calabria and Sardinia.

Northern borders

From the end of 2015 to July 2016, MSF teams provided medical care, shelter and support to hundreds of refugees in Gorizia, on the border with Slovenia. A temporary centre made from 25 converted shipping containers, with a capacity of 96, had been opened there in December 2015, for people who had been sleeping outdoors after being excluded from the official reception system. MSF staff worked in partnership with the local health service and the Red Cross, and distributed relief items such as hygiene kits. In response to the urgent needs of migrants in transit at the borders with France (Ventimiglia) and Switzerland (Como), MSF teams collaborated with local authorities and volunteer networks to provide basic psychological and medical assistance, as well as food and other essential items.

Rome

In April 2016, MSF opened a rehabilitation centre for torture survivors in Rome. Until the end of 2016, 98 patients of 22 nationalities have been assisted through a multidisciplinary approach involving medical and psychological care, physiotherapy, and social and legal assistance. The activities are carried out in collaboration with the Italian NGOs Medici Contro la Tortura (Doctors against Torture) and Association for Law Studies on Migration (ASGI).