This is one in a sequence of stories related to a WHO consultation with Member States to highlight and understand the complex needs of people living with noncommunicable diseases in emergency situations when they are forced to leave their homes and the care they depend on.
While pregnant with her first child, and in order to escape the cruelty of civil war, Salma fled with her husband from her hometown in South Sudan. “No one can imagine what we experienced there,” she says. Fortunately, she managed to reach Greece, although she has not heard from her family since.
“I had just given birth at a maternity hospital in Athens, where doctors found a lump in my breast,” she remembers. She had problems receiving a clear diagnosis because she had not managed to get a temporary social security number and could not therefore get a biopsy.
She relates how the National Public Health Organization (NPHO) staff working at the Schisto refugee and migrant camp in Athens liaised with and referred her to the nongovernmental organization, Medical Volunteers International (MVI), who supported Salma’s medical examinations. She was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer, but with MVI’s help she had a breast operation and acquired a PAMKA (temporary social security number) to further her treatment. She recently moved back to the camp after her last chemotherapy treatment.
She is now receiving medication and supplements within the Schisto camp, as well as having regular blood tests to ensure that her white blood cell count is as expected. She also has a mammogram and a chest x-ray every 6 months in the health-care clinic where she received her chemotherapy treatment. “I am not yet ready to recount all that I have been through,” she replies when asked about needing psychological support. “I was lucky to have received such support for all of the challenges that came my way,” she reflects, while noting the long road ahead to recovery.