More than 50,000 migrants and refugees from countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq arrived in Greece in 2018. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) continued to provide medical and mental healthcare to migrants on the Greek islands and the mainland. In mainland Greece, thousands of migrants are forced to live in camps, temporary shelters set up by NGOs, occupied houses or on the streets. Furthermore, since the so-called EU-Turkey deal in March 2016, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees who were in transit through the Greek islands have been trapped waiting for their status to be determined. Consequently, they spend long periods in inadequate reception centres, with poor access to healthcare and the fear of being sent back to Turkey, which exacerbates their medical and mental health problems.

Swiss artist Carole Isler visited some of our projects in Greece in Athens and the island of Chios in February 2019, where she sketched portraits of people and MSF staff. Back in Switzerland, she transformed these sketches into aquarelles.