GREECE / MIGRANT CHILDREN HEALTH RISK

Some 10,000 refugees and migrants remain camped out at an informal site at Greece's northern border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The makeshift home is also home to an estimated 4,000 children, the majority of whom are under the age of five. Doctors warn conditions in the camp are becoming dangerous for children. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:33
• Production Date: 24 March 2016
• Asset Language: Arabic; English
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: HEALTH CARE; REFUGEE CAMPS; REFUGEES
• Geographic Subject: GREECE
• MAMS Id: 1589655
• Parent Id: 1589655
• Alternate Title: unifeed160324d

Description

STORY: GREECE / MIGRANT CHILDREN HEALTH RISK
TRT: 02:33
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 20-21 MARCH 2016, IDOMENI, GREEK / MACEDONIAN BORDER

Shotlist

1. Close up, newborn coughing
2. Close up, newborn’s mother Narin looking at the child
3. Close up, newborn sleeping
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Narin, Syrian Refugee:
“He caught a virus; he has infections and fever, diarrhea and vomiting. We left the hospital yesterday thinking he was better but he is still sick. All my other kids are sick.”
5. Med shot, newborn sleeping
6. Close up, Narin’s daughter
7. Various shots, tracks
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Angeliki Kosmatopoulo, Pediatrician, Medecin Du Monde:
“We see many children with chronic conditions like asthma or acute conditions like bronchiolitis who might have had just a mild case of their illness.”
9. Wide shot, refugee child
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Angeliki Kosmatopoulo, Pediatrician, Medecin Du Monde:
“We see a lot of exacerbations of such respiratory issues.”
11. Med shot, doctor seeing patients at local clinic
12. Various shots, refugee kids burning trash to lit fire
13. Wide shot, refugee family sitting outside their tent with fire smoke
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Babar Baloch, Senior Unhcr Pi:
“A lot of families with young children have spent weeks, day after night in the rain, in the cold and in open sky. The small tents that they have had are not good, it’s not proper shelter.”
15. Various shots, camp

Storyline

Some 10,000 refugees and migrants remain camped out at an informal site at Greece's northern border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The makeshift home is also home to an estimated 4,000 children, the majority of whom are under the age of five. Doctors warn conditions in the camp are becoming dangerous for children.

Delberin is only two months old and suffering from a lung infection.

His mother says his health has suffered by being at the border area in Idomeni Greece.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Narin, Syrian Refugee:
“He caught a virus; he has infections and fever, diarrhea and vomiting. We left the hospital yesterday thinking he was better but he is still sick. All my other kids are sick.”

More than 4,000 children are caught in limbo in Idomeni. They are at risk of what doctors here describe as an explosion in respiratory and stomach diseases.

SOUNDBITE (English) Angeliki Kosmatopoulo, Pediatrician, Medecin Du Monde:
“We see many children with chronic conditions like asthma or acute conditions like bronchiolitis who might have had just a mild case of their illness.”

Refugees burn plastic and rubbish to keep warm. It makes the air toxic, particularly for young ones.

SOUNDBITE (English) Babar Baloch, Senior Unhcr Pi:
“A lot of families with young children have spent weeks, day after night in the rain, in the cold and in open sky. The small tents that they have had are not good, it’s not proper shelter.”

UNHCR partners with medical organizations to refer sick kids for immediate medical attention. But clinics here stretch to capacity.

Volunteers and NGOs are helping, but much more is needed, especially for the children.