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In Italy we are working to support migrants and people on the move in several areas, in collaboration with local health authorities.

In Palermo, Sicily, we are working in a clinic to provide medical and mental health care for migrants and refugees who survived intentional physical violence and torture in their country of origin or during their journey to Italy.

In Rome, we support vulnerable migrant women living in marginalised neighbourhoods and informal settlements to access sexual and reproductive health services, working in several family clinics alongside MoH staff, conducting health promotion activities and offering psychological care.

During the summer months, in the middle of the year, we provide medical and psychological support to people landing in the region of Calabria, identifying migrants and refugees who are medically vulnerable and need further treatment.

Our activities in 2022 in Italy

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2022.

MSF in Italy in 2022 In Italy, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) focuses on addressing gaps in healthcare for the most vulnerable and marginalised people, especially migrants and people on the move.
Italy IAR map 2022

The southern region of Calabria and the islands of Sicily and Lampedusa are some of the main arrival points for the thousands of people who embark on the dangerous migration route across the Mediterranean Sea every year.

In Roccella Jonica, Calabria, we started providing medical and psychological support at landing sites, seeking to identify people with medical vulnerabilities so that we could ensure continuity of care for them.

Our teams working in Crotone and Agrigento focused on the identification of vulnerable people in reception facilities, organising referrals to local health services. We also offered psychological first aid to survivors of shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea at different landing sites across Sicily and Calabria.

In Palermo, we continued providing comprehensive care for migrants who experienced torture and intentional violence in Libya and during their migration route. The project has an interdisciplinary approach, offering medical, psychological, social and legal assistance to patients. In 2022, we housed a small group of migrants and asylum seekers, who had been evacuated from Libya on a humanitarian flight, in an MSF facility. In addition to housing them, we ensured the patients’ continuity of care through our clinic.

In Rome, in collaboration with the local health authorities, we ran a project focused on facilitating access to sexual and reproductive healthcare for migrant women living in marginalised neighbourhoods and informal settlements.

After the escalation of the war in Ukraine, we launched emergency interventions in Rome, Naples, Milan and Trieste, offering psychological support, as well as social and health assistance, for the large influx of Ukrainian refugees arriving in Italy.

MSF volunteers in Palermo, Turin and Udine set up helpdesks to orientate and support people needing access to healthcare, including migrants, asylum seekers and marginalised people.

 

In 2022
 
Aquarius SAR: Winter conditions and high seas
Mediterranean migration

How to stop the rising tide of death in Mediterranean

Voices from the Field 18 Jan 2017
 
Bourbon Argos Search and Rescue Operations November 2016
Mediterranean migration

10 things you need to know about the Mediterranean crisis

Project Update 2 Dec 2016
 
25 People Found Dead & 246 Rescued By MSF
Mediterranean migration

29 people found dead by MSF search and rescue ship Bourbon Argos

Press Release 26 Oct 2016
 
MV Aquarius rescue 720 03 Oct 2016
Mediterranean migration

MSF rescued nearly 2,000 people in less than seven hours

Project Update 2 Oct 2016
 
Dignity rescue operation, 29 August
Mediterranean migration

MSF assists in rescue of 3,000 people in a single day

Press Release 30 Aug 2016
 
22 people lost their lives at sea and 209 rescued
Mediterranean migration

MSF doctor recounts finding deaths at sea

Voices from the Field 25 Jul 2016