Description
Introduction:
Migration across the Mediterranean pose’s unique health challenges. Search and rescue (SAR) organizations like SOS Mediterranee (SOS) play a key role in providing medical assistance to those in distress, often receiving the first medical care within a long time.
Objective:
Through SOS’s medical experiences and insights gained working at sea with populations on the move, we propose to share and discuss the health needs we face, as well as the challenge of meeting them when working in a unique transitory setting.
Methodology:
Through the presentation of the health data collected onboard the Ocean Viking, we will shed light on the morbidities faced by individuals during their migratory journeys. This includes demographic information, the number of medical consultations conducted, and prevalent morbidities encompassing a range of health issues, from communicable diseases to injuries sustained during the journey. Additionally, using qualitative insights gleaned from medical teams onboard, we will address the challenges of adapting medical practices to a search and rescue ship, highlighting the specificities of providing healthcare in a transitory setting.
Discussion:
This presentation will discuss the implications of our findings for both immediate medical interventions and the broader challenges of adapting healthcare practices in a transitory environment. This will include addressing the limitations, treatment considerations (both for physical and mental health), and the unique ethical considerations of providing care at sea, specifically to do no harm and why certain interventions, when performed at sea, could compromise this principle.
Conclusion:
We aim to contribute to the collective understanding of global health challenges associated with migration, stress the need for comprehensive health services and emphasize the importance of adaptive practices required to provide effective healthcare for populations on the move.
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