Addressing an EU Health Ministers’ council in Luxembourg on Monday, Greek Health Minister Andreas Loverdos stressed that the huge influx of mainly African and south Asian migrants into Greece in 2010 posed heightened risks to public health, as well as putting a massive strain on the country’s overburdened state health services.
The council meeting focused on the impact of migration on public health.
Loverdos said illegal migration was currently one of the most serious problems faced by Greece, with more than 132,000 illegal migrants entering the country in 2010 and a further 9,000 in the first third of 2011.
The Minister noted that the majority of these migrants originated from countries in Africa and south Asia with an entirely different epidemiological profile to those of Greeks and other Europeans, bringing with them new but also some “forgotten diseases”, such as polio, cholera or malaria.
Due to their poor living conditions, meanwhile, they served to increase the incidence of diseases such as tuberculosis or hepatitis.
Loverdos underlined that the impact on public health exceeded the means and ability of the Greek health services to cope, while the total cost was prohibitive and came to nearly 140 million euro in 2010. He noted that the assistance received by Greece in this area was more “symbolic” than substantial, with just 10 million euro approved for the first half of 2011.
He pointed out that the repercussions were hard to assess and did not concern Greece alone, since epidemics did not recognize borders and any deterioration of conditions in Greece would inevitably affect the rest of Europe.
Urging a common European solution to the issue, the Greek Minister said this should be comprehensive and permanent, underlining that Greece and other countries of the European south had need of European solidarity in the form of laws or financial instruments, either new or modified to deal with the new challenge.
“What we need is a public health ‘Frontex’ capable of protecting the European population,” he said.
(source: ana-mpa)
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