Psychosocial support and Medical Assistance to Agricultural Workers in Sicily

In Sicily, we guarantee psychosocial support and medical assistance to agricultural workers in the ‘fascia trasformata’ area

In order to help the most vulnerable members of the population access medical treatment, we operate a Mobile Clinic and an Outpatient Clinic in the area referred to as the ‘fascia trasformata’ (‘transformed strip’) due to the almost uninterrupted presence of over 30km of greenhouses.

Agricultural work in this area is no longer seasonal, but takes place all year round. This means an increased number of agricultural workers, mostly from Morocco, Tunisia, Romania and Albania.

Their working and living conditions are precarious: they work for around 10-12 hours a day in the suffocating heat and most of them live in abandoned houses, informal settlements or old warehouses being used as accommodation, without drinking water and in many cases without bathroom facilities.

Our work

The Mobile Clinic

The project is structured around people’s needs: in 2019 we opened our Mobile Clinic, where we offer free basic medicine, sanitary education, socio-medical assistance, and psychological support.

We are active in three areas: Marina di Acate, Vittoria and Santa Croce di Camerina. In order that the workers can access our services, our activities take place in the afternoon, from 4pm to 9:30pm.

The Outpatient Clinic

In May 2022 we opened an Outpatient Clinic in the centre of Vittoria to enhance the services provided by the Mobile Clinic and provide a fixed location for delivering them.

“The volume of patients in the square of Vittoria, where we used to stop with our Mobile Clinic, was becoming very important. This is why we felt it was necessary to create a place where patients could be received and examined under the best conditions.” – Ahmed Echi, Project Manager of EMERGENCY in Ragusa

The Outpatient Clinic guarantees basic medical services, psychological counselling and social-health guidance thanks to a team composed of a doctor, nurse, psychologist and cultural mediators, who work together with a team from the Provincial Health Authority (ASP) of Ragusa.

Active two days a week, the Outpatient Clinic has extended opening hours like the Mobile Clinic to accommodate those who work and live far from the centre but still need access to care.

Covid-19 Assistance for Vulnerable Groups

During the lockdown months, a swab service was provided at the mobile clinic for those who did not have regular access to national health services.

In June 2021, our health staff carried out a vaccination campaign against Covid-19 for those who did not have a regular residence permit.

Both activities were offered with the aim of protecting both individual and public health, and curbing the risk of infection in poorer communities. The activities were carried out in cooperation with the Provincial Health Authority of Ragusa, the local CGIL and Caritas.