Cyprus: assessing health-system capacity to manage sudden large influxes of migrants

Overview

An unprecedented number of individuals and families, including increasing numbers of children, from the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia, have crossed the Mediterranean and Aegean seas in an attempt to reach safety and security in Europe. In 2015, more than 3,500 people drowned or went missing in the process. Currently hundreds of thousands of women, men, girls and boys, legally defined as refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, are on the move within European territories on their way to a destination country. Amidst the multiple needs of these populations, due attention must be given to the protection of their mental health and psychosocial wellbeing.