19 | Fenced In Chios: Refugee Health and the Cruelty of Deterrence | Apostolos Veizis

Social Medicine On Air

Apostolos Veizis (@AVeizis) offers a medical view from the frontlines of the ongoing refugee crisis, which as he explains, is not so much a "refugee crisis" as a crisis of logistics and lack of political will. We discuss the mental and physical health effects of life in overcrowded camps (in this case in the Greek islands), how these conditions are created and exacerbated by cruel policies of deterrence, the true drivers of mass migration from Syria and elsewhere, COVID in the camps, the 2016 EU-Turkey deal, and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as an example of a medical-humanitarian response to the crisis.

Apostolos Veizis MD is the former Director of Medical Operational Support Unit of MSF Greece, and is presently the Executive Director of INTERSOS in Greece. He had worked as Head of Mission and Medical Coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Médecins du Monde(MDM) in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Russian Federation, Albania, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Turkey, and participated inassessment, emergency assignments and evaluations in Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Zambia, Malawi, Uzbekistan, North Macedonia, Cyprus and Tajikistan. He actively participates in international and national medical congresses and contributes to the literature on refugee issues and health.

Recommended Resources:

• "Greece - Invisible Suffering of Migrants & Asylum Seekers | MSF" (2014, video), bit.ly/2PKgQ9J

• "Migration and Health: Medical and Humanitarian Assistance for People on the Move, MSF Experiences and Challenges" (2016, video), bit.ly/3v3aSkn

• "Apostolos Veizis: On the front line of the refugee and migrant crisis in Greece," WHO, bit.ly/3kVav72

• Veizis, A (2020). "Commentary: 'Leave No One Behind' and Access to Protection in the Greek Islands in the COVID‐19 Era," International Migration 58(3), bit.ly/3v2742W