Serbia: Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support
RMF Serbia National News Interview: January 2017
January 20, 2017
The RMF Serbia team was interviewed by a national news program. The interview aired January 20, 2017. Translation for the video is below.
1:13-1:21 Reporter: Numerous volunteers from nongovernmental organisation are providing protection for refugees 24 hours a day. On winter days, they have more work to do.
1:21-1:38 Daniel Pejković: “This weather favours development of respiratory infections, and that’s something they get very often. Other than that, we had multiple frostbite cases. Some of those cases were 2-3 year old children.”
1:38-1:46 “We also had cases of refugees that have scabies, refugees that have body lice. Skin diseases are very common, that’s something we see throughout the whole year.”
Background
RMF has been responding to the refugee crisis in Serbia since January 2016, by providing comprehensive protection and medical services, including emergency triage, to persons of concern. Our teams work in and around the Belgrade city center and at Obrenovac Transit and Reception Centre, the second largest refugee camp in Serbia. We operate 3:00 PM to 10:00 PM five days a week at our mobile medical clinic located in Obrenovac, with a second medical team providing referrals for secondary and tertiary care institutions. From 2017 to 2018, we also provided services near the border with Croatia, operating the medical clinic at Adaševci Transit Centre from 4:00 PM to 12:00 AM, seven days a week.
Additional programs include a mobile dental clinic at Obrenovac Transit and Reception Centre—the first of its kind in Serbia—providing dental care for migrants, who previously only had access to emergency interventions. RMF Balkans also distributes hygiene kits at six camps throughout Serbia to help improve personal hygiene and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. To improve the residents’ quality of life, RMF renovated Obrenovac Transit and Reception Centre in 2018 and continues to maintain and use the renovated facilities to conduct cultural and empowerment activities.
Objectives
- Provide comprehensive protection and assistance response
- Provide material assistance and information
- Provide psychosocial support
- Provide translation and cultural mediation services
- Support existing medical institutions with capacity and mobility
- Establish an information dissemination hotline
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Country Page: Serbia
Initiative Page: Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support