ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
This article is part of the Research TopicNavigating the Refugee Experience: Understanding the Dynamics of Mental Health Challenges and ResilienceView all articles
Implementation of National Recommendations for the Care of Ukrainian Refugee Children in Switzerland: A Survey of Primary Care Paediatricians
Provisionally accepted
Fabienne Nicole Jaeger1,2,3,4*
Sarah Depallens4,5
Marc Sidler6
Noemie Wagner4,7,8
Nicole Ritz10,11,2,4,9- 1Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Basel, Switzerland
- 2Universitat Basel, Basel, Switzerland
- 3Migrationsambulatorium Erlenhof, Erlenhof Zentrum, Reinach, Switzerland
- 4pädiatrie schweiz, Fribourg, Switzerland
- 5Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland
- 6Kinderärzte Schweiz, Zürich, Switzerland
- 7Hopitaux Universitaires Geneve Hopital des Enfants, Geneva, Switzerland
- 8Paediatric Infectious Diseases Unit, Geneva University Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
- 9Universitats-Kinderspital beider Basel, Basel, Switzerland
- 10Luzerner Kantonsspital Kinderspital Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland
- 11Mycobacterial and Migrant Health Research Group, University of Basel Children’s Hospital Basel, Switzerland, Basel, Switzerland
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Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the implementation of specific recommendations for providers caring for paediatric Ukrainian refugees new to Switzerland, care provided and challenges faced. Methods: Paediatricians were invited via newsletters to participate in an online-questionnaire. Results: 111 primary-care paediatricians were eligible for participation. 91% provided care for Ukrainian refugees. The vast majority (88.6%) were aware of the mentioned recommendations. Reported care provided was: treating acute conditions (94.8%), ensuring vaccination coverage (89.7%), and performing new-arrival check-ups regardless of age (60.8%). The psychosocial situation (67.0%) and mental wellbeing of child and main caregiver (47.4%) were assessed, and preventive information (29.9%) provided to a lesser degree. Tuberculosis risks were discussed or screened for by 73.2%, HIV by 58.3% and Hepatitis C by 57.3%. Main challenges faced were the lack of time (77.9%), the language barrier (81.1%), organizing mental health care (65.5.%), different health(care) perceptions (65.6%), demanding attitudes (68.4%), and efusals of check-ups (30.8%) and vaccines (38.6%). Conclusions: Despite high rates of awareness of the recommendations, implementation varied. Preventive and mental health need improvement. Care enabling policies are identified and warranted
Keywords: Ukraine, Paediatric, Refugee, recommendations, healthcare, screening, implementation
Received: 15 Jul 2025; Accepted: 26 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jaeger, Depallens, Sidler, Wagner and Ritz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fabienne Nicole Jaeger
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