Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has reported the first cases of malnourished children in a migrant camp on the Greek island of Samos, raising fresh concerns over the facility’s conditions.
The medical charity said on Monday that its doctors had diagnosed six children from Syria and Afghanistan, aged between six months and six years, with acute malnutrition requiring urgent care.
While MSF could not confirm whether their condition was directly caused by life in the camp, it warned that inadequate food and healthcare placed children at serious risk.
“No child should suffer from malnutrition due to systemic neglect,” said Christina Psarra, director general of MSF Greece, calling for immediate intervention. She noted that about a quarter of the camp’s residents were children, Reuters reported.
Greece’s Ministry of Migration and Asylum dismissed concerns of widespread malnutrition, insisting that the cases were isolated. “Under no circumstances is there generalised malnutrition due to living conditions,” it said, adding that asylum seekers receive three meals a day.
Greece, which was at the centre of Europe’s 2015-16 migration crisis, has seen another surge in arrivals this year. According to United Nations data, nearly a third of migrants reaching southern Europe from the Middle East and Africa in 2024 landed in Greece.
The Samos camp, built with European Union funding, opened in 2021 as a high-security facility encircled by barbed wire. It replaced the overcrowded Vathy camp, which once housed 7,000 people in squalid conditions. The six malnourished children arrived at the camp this year, MSF said.
Amnesty International has previously condemned conditions at the site, describing them as “inhumane and degrading” during times of overcrowding, with water shortages and a lack of essential services.
In December, a UN human rights expert criticised Greece for failing to identify victims of sex trafficking in the camp.
MSF has urged Greek authorities and the EU to ensure proper paediatric care and nutrition support for asylum seekers. It also called for the reinstatement of financial aid to refugees, which was suspended last June.
