Country: Greece

Committee: World Health Organization

Delegate: Daniela I. Guerrero
School: High Tech High Chula Vista
Topic: Mental Health and Nutrition
Introduction:
Over the past couple of years the world's most rapidly growing dilemma has been the refugee crisis and
the poor medical care they receive. The treatment for diseases of the mind has fallen far behind those of
infectious diseases. Common diseases include PTSD, major depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and
somatization. 41 percent of the refugee population consists of children. Refugee children have
experienced traumatic events like imprisonment, torture, poverty, malnutrition, physical assault, extreme
fear, rape, being separated from their families, forced to inflict pain or to kill, and being a witness to
death. It has been shown that refugees experience higher rates of psychiatric disorders than other
populations. Different studies have shown that 10-40% and 5-15% of settled refugees have shown signs
of PTSD and major depression. Children and adolescents often have higher levels with various
investigations revealing rates of PTSD from 50-90% and major depression from 6-40%. Research on
refugee children in the 2002 showed that most of refugee children that were resettled attended school and
they did not have mental conditions compared to the general populations. The crisis today is completely
different. Thousands of refugees come to reach safe countries, because they are fleeing war and have
traumatic experiences. Refugee children are very behind in education but most importantly now have
mental conditions.
National Actions:
Greece cannot manage this situation alone. We have asked for emergency funding from Europe to tackle
the new crisis however we did not specify the amount we needed. Greece needs a larger supply of tents,
blankets, sleeping bags, more transport vehicles and ambulances among other supplies. Regarding this
topic Pope Francis said, "Greece and other countries on the front line are giving these people generous
help, which needs the collaboration of all countries. A response in unison could be effective and distribute
the load fairly, to do this, we need to push decisively and unreservedly in negotiations." Severe trauma
cases are seen on a daily basis on the Greek island of Lesbos. It is critical to fully take advantage of those
first hours or days spent on Lesbos because they experience flashbacks, insomnia, physical symptoms and
if left unaddressed these symptoms can lead to the full blown PTSD. Small teams of therapist and social
workers provided by the Greek government, are prevailing coping methods as soon as refugees arrive. As
many as half of the refugees in Greece suffer from conditions like PTSD or depression. The IRC have
begun to devote more of their attention to mental health. But, they are focusing on helping refugees on a
short term mental therapy rather than a long term. Cognitive Therapy is a short term method made to help
patients reaffirmed the way they think about the traumatic experiences. They want to focus on helping the
patients distinguish between the past and present events over which they had no control such as death of a
loved one, they want them to take back control. A long term mental therapy effect is needed as soon as
possible.In truth, they are not safe yet, living in denial is not a good coping method, but if you're still in
it and you don't have the resources to really open the wound and treat it, it could be the best way. quote
form Talya Feldman, a volunteer on the IsraAid psychosocial team
UN and International Actions:
A report by the UN shows that refugees need treatment for a wide range of common and problematic
conditions. These lead to more expensive referrals that need to be diagnosed and treated in middle income
countries. With more than 1.4 million refugees around the world the health system problems are mainly
low funding for the Syrian refugee crisis, the challenge of providing access to quality healthcare for
Syrian refugees is growing. Secondly, the increasing numbers of people needing medical help is straining

existing health services in each of the countries. Both issues are a matter of serious concern to UNHCR.
They continue to provide medical care for refugees in camps. The UNs humanitarian agencies are on the
verge of bankruptcy and unable to meet the basic needs of millions of people because of the size of the
refugee crisis in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. People havent been vaccinated, they suffer from
malnutrition, they have mental health issues because of the conflict. We are setting countries back
decades. quote from UNHCR.
Other international help include the Medical Sans Frontier. They are providing medical consultations by
supporting mental health, and distributing relief items. For example, for children it could be a stuffed
animal , toys, or books for them to read. Humanity Crew is a non-profit organization that provides
psychological consultations in Arabic on the island of Lesbos. UNHCR continues to provide the Greek
response effort. We have provided rub halls, tents and refugee housing units, other core relief, plus
additional staff and specialists, including protection and technical staff. So far there has been a total of
8,372 medical consultations. Refugees that want to have individual sessions with the psychologists total is
149. Group sessions total is 133 with 589 participants. Our role is to hear them so they can let put their
emotions, in the rhythm that they want, not to interrupt them, and to help them with dealing with the
reaction rather than the trauma itself.
The International help has provided few psychologist, places where they can have their sessions,
continuous help to improve the living conditions for refugees, ambulances for medical referrals or new
arrivals (transporting an average of 185 people every day), and medical care for refugees. They have been
treating several pathologies related to the winter conditions,such as respiratory tract infections as well as
injuries from the journey. UNHCR has made a global emergency response capacity. Its purpose is to
deploy people and material aid at very short notice. This means at any given time, anywhere in the world
it will meet the emergency needs of up to 500,000 people. It maintains a worldwide staff of trained
UNHCR specialists It has also positioned huge emergency stockpiles of humanitarian aid items, tents,
blankets, and cooking kits. UNHCR also focuses on ensuring they get the help they need. This always
begins with ensuring that governments is treating refugees properly , protecting them,and seeing if they
have been forcing people back to places where their lives may be at risk.
Recommendations:
I believe that the first thing that should be acknowledged is to come up with solutions to a long term
mental effect rather than a short term. I think the refugees will benefit the most with this action because
they don't want to have to have a time limit of when they are going to get crazy again. If we can not do
that, smaller tasks that we could help with would be to give them a place where they can open the
wounds. We absolutely need this because without the proper place or materials the refugees condition
can plummet. We can also increase health care, health staff, and a larger amount of psychologists as more
refugees with traumatic experiences come every day. The more the medical staff the better. We will be
able to help more refugees and at a quicker pace, and not having to rush through consultations. Not only
will it help out the refugees but it will help Greece as a whole.

Works Cited:

Al Jazeera. "Refugee Crisis: 70,000 May Be Stuck in Greece in March." - Al Jazeera

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- Anagnostopoulos, Dimitris. "Corrigendum." Journal of Climate J. Climate 15.7 (2002):
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"Global Issues at the United Nations." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 03 May 2016.

- Robin, Shira. "A Pit Stop for PTSD Therapy." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 4
Apr. 2016. Web. 02 May 2016.
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