“Life in the camps makes you sick.” Results of a photovoice project with refugees in Munich, Germany

Background

Refugees newly arriving in Germany are housed in large accommodation centers. Living in such camps make it difficult to stay healthy due to the psychological stresses associated with the loss of privacy, the hygienic conditions and the bad nutrition. While these conditions are known, few studies exist that capture the lived experiences of refugees in such shelters.

Methods

The project ‘Vulnerability and empowerment: Participatory approaches to health promotion with refugees' (EMPOW), funded by the German Research Foundation (2019-2022) applies a participatory design involving three study sites. In Munich, the Photovoice method was used to identify health challenges in the camps. Examples are shown and discussed.

Results

Being forced to live in camps constitutes a specific hazard to the health of refugees. Often, they are not allowed to cook or to bring their own food. Canteens, bedrooms and sanitary facilities are shared with many people, which poses a major hygiene problems (especially during the Corona pandemic). Particularly for pregnant women this situation is harmful to their health. The COVID-19-pandemic worsens these problems significantly e.g. via quarantine measures that are imposed on shelters and its inhabitants for long periods.

Conclusions

The photovoice stories document the serious deficits of the shelter system from a community perspective showing how these are detrimental to the inhabitants' health. Suggestions are made for improving the situation so that persons seeking asylum in Germany have better chances to stay healthy. The perspective of refugees themselves on these challenges must be taken seriously in order to improve their health.

Main messages

Photovoice provides a tool for refugees to express and interpret their lived experiences.

The shelter system in Germany is detrimental to the health of refugees.

Prevalence of Nosocomial Infections in High-Risk Units in the University Clinical Center of Kosova

A point-prevalence study was performed to determine the prevalence of nosocomial infections in University Clinical Center of Kosova. Of 167 surveyed patients, 27 had a total of 29 nosocomial infections, with an overall prevalence rate of 17.4%. Nosocomial bloodstream infections were most prevalent (62%). The prevalence was highest among neonates in intensive-care units (77.8%).

Air pollution in pristina, influence on cardiovascular hospital morbidity

Introduction:

Numerous studies observed health effects of particulate air pollution. Ambient air quality is particularly bad in Pristina. The principal sources of contaminants are sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides NO and NO2 (NOx), ozone (O3), lead (Pb), carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PM or dust).

Objective:

to investigate effects of concentrations of pollutants in ambient air on hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease in UCCK- Pristina.

Methods:

Retrospective ecological study. During the three year analytical research predict the potential benefit of decreasing for concentration of PM _2.5, PM ₁₀ were measured in two station in Pristina. The study population consisted of all hospitalization patient in intern clinic for 2010,2011 and 2012 year. Air pollution measurements will be used by KHMI data for the year of 2010, 2011 and 2012 for the municipality of

Pristina in the measurements point in:

KHMI-MESP which is equipped with automatic analyzer- Air Compact Monitoring System (Version 2.2) recordum MESSTECHNIK GmbH. Statistical data processing will be done with SPSS 17.0 statistical package.

Results:

Based on the results obtained during the study period concentrated PM are higher level than standards value. The results showed that the number of hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease are positively correlated with concentration pollutants. Results show clear seasonal variation in the effects of PM on hospital admissions in Kosovo. The study period was short but the mean daily admissions for cardiovascular illnesses were quite large.

Conclusion:

The main source for air pollution was coal-burned power plant and traffic (old vehicles) in Kosovo.

Correlation between blood lead level and hemoglobin level in mitrovica children

Introduction:

Lead toxicity is a serious health threat, especially in developing countries due to environmental pollution. It was thus aimed to investigate correlation between blood lead level and concentration level of hemoglobin in the blood of children involved in research.

Material and methods:

The research included 250 children of which 31(12.4%) kindergarten children, 166 (66.4%) of primary school pupils in Mitrovica and 53(21.2%) of primary school pupils in Shtime as control group. From the 250 children included in the survey 129 or 51.6% were female children and 48.4% male children. Children were selected randomly, while tests for concentration of Pb and blood hemoglobin were done at the National Institute of Public Health.

Results:

The average value of blood lead level of Mitrovica pupils was 2.4 µg/dL (SD±1.9µg/dL), range 0.5 to 16.3µg/dL. The average value of blood lead level of Shtime pupils was 2.3µg/dL (SD±0.7µg/dL), range 1.2 to 5.2 µg/dL with no statistical difference (P = 0.191). The average value of blood lead level in kindergarten children of Mitrovica was 3.8µg/dL (SD±1.3µg/dL), range 2.2 to 7.7µg/dL with significant difference between the average values of blood lead levels of pupils and kindergarten children of Mitrovica (P <0.0001). The average value of hemoglobin in the pupils of Mitrovica was 14.0g/dL(SD± 3.7g/dL), range 9.4 to 25.6 g/dL. The average value of hemoglobin to pupils of Shtime was 11.4g/dl(SD±0.8 g/dl), range 9.2 to 13.0 g/dl with significant difference between mean values of hemoglobin pupils of Mitrovica and Shtime (U ‘= 6440.0, P <0.0001). With Spearman correlation is found significant correlation of a medium scale (r = -0.305, df = 248, p <0.0001) between blood lead levels and hemoglobin level in the blood.

Surgical site infections in an abdominal surgical ward at Kosovo Teaching Hospital

BACKGROUND

Abdominal surgical site infections (SSI) cause substantial morbidity and mortality for patients undergoing operative procedures. We determined the incidence of and risk factors for SSI after abdominal surgery in the Department of Abdominal Surgery at the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo (UCCK).

METHODOLOGY

Prospective surveillance of patients undergoing abdominal surgery was performed between December 2005 and June 2006. CDC definitions were followed to detect SSI and study forms were based on Europe Link for Infection Control through Surveillance (HELICS) protocol.

RESULTS

A total of 253 surgical interventions in 225 patients were evaluated. The median age of patients was 42 years and 55.1% of them were male. The overall incidence rate of SSI was 12%. Follow-up was achieved for 84.1% of the procedures. For patients with an SSI, the median duration of hospitalization was 9 days compared with 4 days for those without an SSI (p < 0.001). Surgical procedures were classified as emergent in 53.3% of cases. Superficial incisional SSI was most common (55%). Clinical infections were culture positive in 40.7% of cases. Duration of operation, duration of preoperative stay, wound class, ASA score > 2, use of antibiotic prophylaxis and NNIS class of > 2 were all significant at p < .001. The SSI rates for the NNIS System risk classes 0, 1 and 2-3 were 4.2%, 46.7% and 100%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

SSI caused considerable morbidity among surgical patients in UCCK. Appropriate active surveillance and infection control measures should be introduced during preoperative, intra-operative, and postoperative care to reduce infection rates.

Surgical site infections in an abdominal surgical ward at Kosovo Teaching Hospital

BACKGROUND

Abdominal surgical site infections (SSI) cause substantial morbidity and mortality for patients undergoing operative procedures. We determined the incidence of and risk factors for SSI after abdominal surgery in the Department of Abdominal Surgery at the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo (UCCK).

METHODOLOGY

Prospective surveillance of patients undergoing abdominal surgery was performed between December 2005 and June 2006. CDC definitions were followed to detect SSI and study forms were based on Europe Link for Infection Control through Surveillance (HELICS) protocol.

RESULTS

A total of 253 surgical interventions in 225 patients were evaluated. The median age of patients was 42 years and 55.1% of them were male. The overall incidence rate of SSI was 12%. Follow-up was achieved for 84.1% of the procedures. For patients with an SSI, the median duration of hospitalization was 9 days compared with 4 days for those without an SSI (p2, use of antibiotic prophylaxis and NNIS class of >2 were all significant at p < .001. The SSI rates for the NNIS System risk classes 0, 1 and 2-3 were 4.2%, 46.7% and 100%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

SSI caused considerable morbidity among surgical patients in UCCK. Appropriate active surveillance and infection control measures should be introduced during preoperative, intra-operative, and postoperative care to reduce infection rates.

Surgical site infections in an abdominal surgical ward at Kosovo Teaching Hospital

Background: Abdominal surgical site infections (SSI) cause substantial morbidity and mortality for patients undergoing operative procedures. We determined the incidence of and risk factors for SSI after abdominal surgery in the Department of Abdominal Surgery at the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo (UCCK). Methodology: Prospective surveillance of patients undergoing abdominal surgery was performed between December 2005 and June 2006. CDC definitions were followed to detect SSI and study forms were based on Europe Link for Infection Control through Surveillance (HELICS) protocol. Results: A total of 253 surgical interventions in 225 patients were evaluated. The median age of patients was 42 years and 55.1% of them were male. The overall incidence rate of SSI was 12%. Follow-up was achieved for 84.1% of the procedures. For patients with an SSI, the median duration of hospitalization was 9 days compared with 4 days for those without an SSI (p2, use of antibiotic prophylaxis and NNIS class of >2 were all significant at p < .001. The SSI rates for the NNIS System risk classes 0, 1 and 2-3 were 4.2%, 46.7% and 100%, respectively. Conclusions: SSI caused considerable morbidity among surgical patients in UCCK. Appropriate active surveillance and infection control measures should be introduced during preoperative, intra-operative, and postoperative care to reduce infection rates.

Infection control in Kosova

This article presents the authors' views on infection control in hospitals in Kosova, focusing on the main problems and appropriate solutions. Past and present government initiatives are briefly presented, and available data on the prevalence of hospital infections and antimicrobial resistance in Kosova are outlined.