Social determinants of health in newly arrived refugees and migrants in Greece

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Published: Jan 21, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/scad.44242
Keywords:
Social Policies, Health Policies, Social determinants of health, Ukrainian refugees.
Karl Philipp Puchner
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Maria-Angeliki Psyrraki
MERAKI, Community Center
Elias Kondilis
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Abstract

The Greek state applies significantly different migration policies for Ukrainian versus other third country nationals and stateless (OTCNS) R&Ms. Using the framework of the SDoH, in this paper, we have assessed policies related to the asylum and temporary international protection processes and elaborated their potential health impact. Our results suggest that in both groups, existing policies may have
negative health impacts with the impact on SDoH being however less detrimental in the case of Ukrainians R&Ms. Also, policies applied to OTCNS R&Ms sustain a prolonged state of precarity, which might have an independently negative health effect. This dichotomous migration policy might result in poorer health outcomes of the OTCNS R&Ms. Due to the nonnegligible size of this population, the eroding
effects of these policies on the social cohesion and health status of the Greek society, should not be underestimated. Critical review of the current migration policy and swift leveling up policy equalization for all categories of R&Ms is needed.

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Author Biographies
Karl Philipp Puchner, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Karl Philipp Puchner is a postdoctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Primary Health Care, General Medicine and Health Services Research at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. E-mail: [email protected]

Maria-Angeliki Psyrraki, MERAKI, Community Center

Maria-Angeliki Psyrraki has been working with migrants and refugees since 2014. She holds a Bachelor of Social Work from the Higher Technological Educational Institute of Patras and a Master in Social Work from the University of Nottingham.

Elias Kondilis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Elias Kondilis is a psychiatrist and public health physician and Associate Professor of Primary Health Care - Health Policy at the School of Medicine of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Previously he held research and teaching positions (Senior Lecturer in Health Systems) at the Barts and the London School of Medicine at Queen Mary University of London.

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