Frontline Doctors: Winter Migrant Crisis

I'm just going to make a pile of thermals.

A fleece-lined, checked flannel shirt.

It says workwear in it.

I'm Xand van Tulleken and my twin brother Chris and I

are both doctors.

Rubber gloves, you can never have too many rubber gloves.

Over the past decade, we've helped out in emergencies around the world.

Now, we're going to the emergency that's on our doorstep.

'39 migrants, including several children,

'have drowned trying to reach Greece from Turkey.'

Over the past year, our continent has become part of a massive humanitarian crisis.

EXPLOSION

'Scenes of chaos and desperation.'

'..risking their lives to get here.'

More than a million people have arrived on Europe's shores

seeking safety and security or just hopes of a better life.

'Is this the tipping point in our response to the refugee crisis?'

Many thought that winter would see less people arriving,

but huge numbers continue to come, despite the extra risks

that the cold weather brings.

Macedonia, Serbia - could be thick snow.

We have no idea what we're going to find.

We're going to spend two weeks with the aid workers

along the migrant trail...

helping out wherever we can.

Are you OK?

HE SPEAKS ENGLISH

From beach landings...

Two boats in 30 seconds.

..to makeshift refugee camps.

What was it like in Syria before you left?

SHE SPEAKS ARABIC

From icy cold border crossings...

We cannot transport this lady, because we will be people trafficking.

To the shantytowns much closer to home.

He is quite ill and he should see the doctor now.

We want to understand what conditions are like for those

who are fleeing through Europe at this time of year...

That is a child, this is a child.

..and see for ourselves how this humanitarian crisis is being met

across the continent.

Help, we need a doctor!

We need to get him out of the wind,

out of the cold, into somewhere warm.

We've flown to the Greek island of Lesbos.

We've come to see what's happening on Europe's front-line

of the migrant crisis and lend a hand if we can.

It's only a short boat journey to Lesbos from Turkey,

making this island the gateway to Europe for those fleeing war and persecution.

With the land border closed to many migrants,

the sea crossing is the only route.

Of the million people that have come to Europe from Syria, Afghanistan - the refugees -

over the last year, half of them have come through this island.

So, this little holiday resort is the heart of the biggest refugee migration crisis

since World War II.

You'd never know it, would you?

What is quite amazing is, if you look to the right -

we're on the coast road - those lights over there are Turkey.

-Oh, really? That's how close it is?

-Yeah.

'It's 6am...

'I'm heading for one of the main landing sites for migrants.'

The sun is just about to come up and this is the time the boats normally arrive.

They set off when it's still dark and it's light by the time they get to Lesbos.

But what I'm doing now is just driving along the coast

looking to see if I can see any of the army of volunteers that are

keeping an eye out all night for boats.

Ah, here we go.

Despite the scale of the migrant crisis, there's been no coordinated

response by the Greek authorities to the arrivals on the beaches.

-I'm Alex.

-Hi, Alex.

Rebecca is from the UK, she is one of hundreds of volunteers

who've come to help from around the world.

So, what have you guys been doing here?

We get together here from 12 onwards, all night long patrolling

for the refugees coming off the boats,

as there's sometimes pregnant women,

there's very young children,

also disabled we've had coming off the boats,

so we need to have teams here to assist them.

Rebecca tells me it's vital to signal to the boats...

SHE WHISTLES

-There's a boat out here now.

-I can see flashing.

..so they can navigate to safety.

Oh, yeah, yeah. OK.

Yeah, you flash.

With a boat in sight, it's critical to attract their attention.

We do the same back so they know that there's somebody here waiting for them to help them.

Yeah. You can see them very clearly.

This is kind of torture watching them, because they could have an engine failure, they could sink.

Those people are definitely at massive risk of hypothermia

and it's really rough out there, you can see big waves.

While Xand waits on the shore,

I'm on my way to the rocky north coast of the island

to one of the most dangerous places for the migrants to land.

(God!)

There's just boats, there's just rubber.

You can see very clearly now why you do not want to land

one of those boats here at night.

Turkish smugglers force the migrants to pilot their own boats

and all too often they head for the lighthouse.

There's another group of volunteers here.

They've gathered piles of life jackets sold to the migrants.

Pick one of these that you think looks pretty legitimate.

Well, this one looks legitimate, doesn't it? It's got safety labelling on it.

OK.

-There's a bunch of these.

-Oh, wow.

-This is just packing foam.

-Exactly.

I mean, this kind of thing is just hopeless, isn't it? This is a toy.

That's what makes me the most angry is when you see a kid

coming in something like this that's already deflating.

On the clifftop, spotters are scanning the waters to alert rescue teams

who can hopefully direct the migrant's boats towards safer beaches.

Let's have a look.

There's one there.

The first boat arrives

and it's a scramble to help in whatever way we can.

SHOUTING AND SCREAMING

There you go.

The priority is to look out for anyone suffering from hypothermia

from the freezing sea crossing.

You're OK. You made it, you made it.

OK, I need a doctor!

There's a boy who looks like he's extremely cold.

OK, OK. It's the other side on the skin.

-I am a doctor, but I'm happy to see another doctor.

-Yeah, yeah. Hi, hi.

OK.

Let's get his wet shoes and socks off and get him immediately

a little drier and a little better insulated.

Getting some dry socks on him now.

The most important thing is to get him out of the wind, out of the cold, somewhere warm...

and slowly warmed up.

A young man, Mohammed, is also showing signs of hypothermia.

-What's he saying there?

-He's saying he's just overwhelmed and scared.

-OK.

Hello, sir. How are you doing? Can you hear me?.

-He's just shocked.

-OK.

-So, I think he just needs some looking after.

Thankfully, he recovers quickly.

-I don't need doctor. I don't need it.

-You don't need a doctor?

You look like you might need at least some attention.

-Yeah, are you OK?

-Yeah.

Nice to meet you. Good.

All right. It's good, you've come a long way.

I have to say, that is full-on.

We've got about 70 people out of the boat,

treated a couple of them for hypothermia.

There's a man here with a heart condition having a cigarette,

but looking a bit more relaxed.

I feel elated and extremely sad at the same time.

It's a very confusing feeling, but you look out and you go all these

people are safe and there's another boat right there.

One, two.

Just as the beach is cleared, we're back to work again.

Two boats, two boats in 30 seconds.

SHOUTING

It's immediately clear that this boat has more vulnerable passengers.

This lady is pregnant, she's got abdominal pains.

She's got tummy pains and someone who's just had an extremely

stressful, traumatic, freezing cold boat journey.

OK. Is she otherwise healthy?

SHE TRANSLATES

Very, very frightening for her and she's with her husband now.

Obviously, you're worrying about the baby.

The lady is taken to a clinic for further assessment.

For some, there's relief that they've made it to Europe.

Whilst others seem overcome and traumatised by the journey.

Nearly all of these people are from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq,

as are 90% of the migrant arrivals on Lesbos.

-What's your name?

-I'm Fatah.

-Fatah.

-Fatah.

-I'm Alexander.

-OK, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Where have you come from?

-I'm from Iraq, I am Kurdish.

-You're Iraqi Kurd?

-Yeah.

-Have you been in a boat before?

-No, no.

-Never?

-Never. It's my first.

Have you ever seen the ocean before?

No, no. It's my first, too.

Everyone who's just landed on the beach is being taken by UN bus

to a registration camp to make official their arrival in Europe.

So, how many people do you think in total, so far, this morning?

-50 to 60 per boat, times four?

-Yeah, so over 200 people.

-Oh, yeah, for sure. And they have kids.

-There'll be more boats elsewhere?

There's probably about 20 in the north right now.

-So probably, this morning, more than 1,000 people.

-Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

But not everyone who sets off from Turkey makes it to Lesbos.

'Boat number five, this is the Turkish operators. Over.'

Patrolling the waters are several crews of international lifeguards,

who all seem to coordinate together.

as well as the official Greek coastguard.

While Xand stays on land, I'm joining a team from Spain

who've been here for six months

and have even brought their own boat with them.

In winter, these waters are icy cold,

making this crossing even more dangerous.

In January alone, there were 218 deaths on the route,

but numbers would be far greater if it wasn't for the work of lifeguards like Gerard.

What was the biggest number you guys have helped in one day?

HE SPEAKS ENGLISH

So, that might be, like, 5,000 people in one day?

ANNOUNCEMENT OVER RADIO

There's a migrant boat that's potentially in trouble.

But we have to be very careful not to stray outside of Greek waters

or we could be arrested by the Turkish authorities.

We're about 50 metres from Turkish water in the sea

and we can just see maybe 500 metres, a kilometre there

a very small boat with a very large number of people in it.

But if their engine fails now, we can't go help them?

That's mad.

SPEAKING IN ENGLISH

Are you OK?

That's OK, we will.

These boats are just terrible.

The front of that boat is almost underwater,

there's a guy bailing out the boat with a water bottle.

These boats can just break apart.

If I were to buy that boat, it's a few hundred euros, isn't it?

700 euros. And the engine is what? Another 500, something like that?

Each person in that boat has paid at least 1,000 euros, maybe more.

These migrants are lucky, the conditions for the crossing

have been good, their engine has held out

and they've made it to safety under the watch of the Spanish lifeguards.

We head back out to sea

and within minutes we're alerted to a boat in trouble.

So, it looks like these guys, their engine is broken.

ANNOUNCEMENT OVER RADIO

The boat has taken on too much water - if unassisted,

it could sink in minutes,

so it's a race against time to transfer the passengers.

THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER

We need to control the crowd, or the boat could capsize.

SHE SPEAKS ENGLISH

THEY SHOUT OVER EACH OTHER

A few tense minutes later and 50 people have been safely rescued.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

While Chris is out at sea,

I'm heading inland to the registration camp

run by the Greek authorities,

to visit a medical clinic that treats new arrivals to the island.

I want to know more about the medical problems facing the migrants

at this stage of their journey.

Moria Camp is based in a former police detention centre.

It's here where the migrants have to formally register their arrival in Greece.

They can't move on until they've received documentation.

It feels like a very sad place, that's my first impression.

This is the sort of minimum thing we can do to keep people alive -

a roof over their heads, some food -

but to try and live here with a family with dignity...

..that's pretty tough, isn't it?

I wouldn't want to have my family here.

One of the clinics at the camp is run by charity MSF.

On duty today is Nora, an Arabic-speaking GP from London.

SHE SPEAKS ARABIC

For most migrants, this is their first chance to see a doctor in many weeks.

There's no problem in your lungs, OK?

-All you need today is paracetamol.

-Bye-bye. Thank you.

Is that pretty representative of the kind of thing you see?

Yeah. So, the majority of what we've being seeing here has been

respiratory tract infections. So, colds, chest infections.

There's so much frostbite at the moment, as well.

Because they're walking from Afghanistan

through the mountains into Iran.

It's snowing there and we're seeing frostbite.

Oh, God. We're seeing people standing on sea urchins

and coming in with hundreds of spikes in their foot.

-Well, you never get those two things in the same clinic.

-No!

-Sea urchins and frostbite never go together.

-Exactly, exactly.

-Wow.

So, we're seeing a big variety.

-Lots of psychological problems.

-Really?

Huge number of psychological problems.

Lots of people who've just lost their medication.

So, we see blood sugar levels

that are higher than I've ever seen in my life.

One of the youngest patients today is five-year-old Ibrahim from Syria,

who's arrived with his mum and has a painful foot condition.

This is absolutely classic trench foot.

Infection just gets into that so easily.

It's very painful and it means this little boy can't use his feet.

I mean, if you imagine travelling anywhere with a little kid -

a kid who can't walk is much, much harder to get around with.

'Trench foot is soft tissue damage

'caused by standing in cold water for long periods.'

Oh, you don't want to touch your feet?

Shall I hold them? Is that better?

Yeah?

'Ibrahim has a condition that's rarely been seen in Britain

'since the First World War.'

IBRAHIM CRIES

You're OK, you're OK.

They arrived two days ago from Syria.

None of this happened from the dinghy.

This all happened from the rain yesterday and because

it rained so much and they were sleeping out here,

he's got this today.

'We've caught it early, so the treatment is straightforward -

'clean, dry socks and some paracetamol.

'He should be walking again in a couple of days.'

THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE

Thank you.

-That's better. That's better.

-Do you want an arm?

'One of the more vulnerable patients today is Kameron,

'an elderly Iraqi man.'

He is traumatised by walking because his shoes are destroyed

and his sight is reduced.

HE SPEAKS KURDISH

He can't see in both eyes.

He seems to be very visually impaired.

Yes, he is.

As far as I can see, he's got quite severe cataract.

It looks like the problem is that his feet have been injured

because of his journey and because his shoes are destroyed.

His feet are absolutely freezing.

His nail is completely smashed up.

And because he's diabetic, of course,

now we're even more worried with the open cuts on the feet

that he'll get infected.

Oh, what's happened here?

HE SPEAKS KURDISH

HE SPEAKS KURDISH

Yeah, in the leg.

I'm worried about him because he's vulnerable.

He's on his own, he's partially sighted, he can barely walk.

He's going to really struggle speaking Kurdish around here

because there aren't many Kurdish interpreters at all.

But the most important thing at the moment, to me,

is to have a look at these wounds, get my nurse to clean them.

Yes, it's very hard.

Travel alone and he has nobody to help him, that's the problem.

-Nora?

-Yes?

-Here also, right?

-Yep, please.

You see terrible things in the hospital in England as well,

obviously, but his life does not look good for a long time to come.

But at least Nora's going to get him to hospital,

which is where he needs to be.

I want to know more about what's driven people to leave their homes

on such difficult journeys

with some of the most vulnerable family members.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

'One of the new arrivals is Muhammad

'who left Syria three weeks ago heading for Germany

'along with his wife and four young children.'

Who's the oldest?

TRANSLATION:

And you're ten?

Wow.

Little man, you doing OK?

HE LAUGHS

TRANSLATION:

TRANSLATION:

Amna. I'm Alex.

Welcome.

Welcome to you!

And what was it like in Syria before you left?

TRANSLATION:

And what do you think is going to be the best thing

about being in Germany?

Like me?

Whoa!

'Amna shows me what possessions she has left from home.'

How much is this?

25.

What could you buy with this?

Do you have anything else from Syria?

-No.

-No.

CHILDREN GIGGLE

I meet lots of ten-year-olds, but I've never spoken to

a ten-year-old who talked about rocket attacks at home.

And that's not a conversation anyone should have with a ten-year-old.

If I think of what my son got for Christmas...

..and she left Syria with two coins, which are now worthless

because of the war. That money's worthless anywhere.

But those are her memories of home, are those two coins.

'In January this year, more than 30,000 people

'made the crossing to Lesbos.

'This time last year, it was less than 1,000.'

The humanitarian response here seems, at times, chaotic,

but the volunteers and the Greek authorities

are doing their best to manage a complex and ever-changing situation.

From Lesbos, I'm travelling to

Athens following the migrants' route

to mainland Europe.

'It's six in the morning.

'I've come to the port in the Greek capital to see

'the humanitarian issues facing the migrants

'on the next stage of their journey.'

WHISTLES BLARE

'Every single day, at least 1,500 people leave Moria camp

'to take the overnight ferry to Athens.

'Everyone is desperate to move on as quickly as they can from Greece

'to richer countries in northern Europe.'

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

Everyone's blowing whistles and trying to get people on buses

to the border.

You get the sense people here are really vulnerable

to being exploited.

Everyone looks a bit bewildered, it's early in the morning,

it's freezing cold and there's a lot of people shouting at them

to get on different buses.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

Whether they're legitimate bus companies or smugglers,

I can't tell.

'One thing that isn't here is medical help.'

They are moving quickly to the buses to get to the border

and you really get a sense if any of them have got medical problems,

they're not going to be pausing here.

They're not stopping. Their priority is not their health.

Their priority is getting to the rest of Europe.

But not everyone is able to leave Athens immediately.

Tucked away down a side street is a camp that's home

to hundreds of the most vulnerable of Europe's new arrivals.

A clinic here provides health care to migrants

who are stuck in limbo in Athens.

'Dr Katerina wants to introduce me to one of her patients

'who has overcome huge challenges to flee to a better life.'

Where is he? Oh, he's here!

Yes!

'Qusai is a 29-year-old man from Syria.'

Very nice to meet you.

I'm Alex.

So, you have quite a good view of everything that happens.

'Qusai has brittle bone disease and this puts him

'at extremely high risk of sustaining fractures.'

I've seen these boats coming in and there is no room.

-I mean, everyone is getting pushed around and tripping.

-Yeah, yeah.

I would find that boat trip difficult.

For me, it's amazing that you managed to do it.

You have to pay a separate ticket for your wheelchair?

-When you were getting out of the boat?

-Yeah.

I mean, that gives me some idea of how bad it was to be in Syria.

..the regime of Assad...

Wow.

That's amazing.

Really, you've made my day.

It's completely amazing.

I've travelled to the next stage of the migrants' route through Europe -

the Greek-Macedonian border crossing at Idomeni.

Aid tents, UNHCR...

railway tracks, razor wire

and a big old queue of people there.

'The migrants arrive on buses from Athens,

'currently at the rate of around 2,000 per day.

'Macedonia is not in the EU, so controls its own borders.

'But it will only allow three nationalities -

'Syrians, Afghanis and Iraqis - to enter.

'Everyone else is turned away, forcing them

'to carry on illegally or return to Athens.

'The only place at Idomeni where everyone is treated equally

'is the clinic.

'Run by doctors of the world, there are people

'of many nationalities here,

'including those turned away at the border.

TRANSLATION:

'Many are nervous of being identified...'

Point? You point?

'..such as Hamza from Morocco.'

What is your plan now?

TRANSLATION:

'This young Somali woman needs stitches for an injured hand.'

How did she hurt her hand?

'Her friend says they've come to Europe to escape

'the al-Shabab militia terrorising their country.'

Now what will you do?

Mm-hm.

How much money have you spent coming from Somalia to here?

You hope you will get to Sweden?

-Inshallah.

-Yeah.

This is where it happens.

Where either you get to Europe or not.

Once you're through this point, I think, you just fairly quickly

rattle through to Germany, Denmark, where you want to get to.

'But for many, being turned back at the Macedonian border means

'another round of people smugglers and attempts to evade

'the authorities if they're to get to the destinations

'of northern Europe.'

For those who've made it across the border,

it's 200 miles through Macedonia to reach Serbia.

The weather here can be even more brutal for the next stage

of the journey.

What I'm really hoping is that no-one has to spend

too much time outdoors, because I'm wearing a huge number of layers

and expensive thermals and a fancy jacket and I'm cold.

What I'm shocked to find is that once the migrants

have crossed the border into Serbia,

they have to continue their journeys on foot.

Hi!

'No matter what their condition, they have to walk over a kilometre

'to the first Serbian camp for security screening.'

More than any other crisis I've ever been to,

the only thing there is for doctors and nurses to do here,

with a few little exceptions, most people just want some humanity.

They just want a bit of compassion.

TRANSLATION:

We have a vehicle, we have a Jeep there.

And we cannot transport this lady

because we will be people trafficking.

'All I can do is walk with her to the Serbian checkpoint.'

Once they pass through the first checkpoint, the young, the old,

and the infirm are taken by minibus

3km to another set of security checks.

The rest have to walk those 3km in sub-zero temperatures

and driving snow.

But as night draws in and more arrive at the border,

it is clear that there aren't enough minibuses.

That's a van for the children and the disabled people,

but having said that, that is a child.

-This is a child.

-This is my child.

-As-Salaam-Alaikum.

-I walk because there are not many cars.

-There are no cars, yes, you know where you are going?

-Yes, I know.

OK.

I am FREEZING. This is unbelievable.

This border crossing is a microcosm of the whole response where,

it's like, "Well, we'll help, but not much.

"We'll put on a bus for some of the way,

"but we'll also make you walk in the snow.

"Some of you can have a bus and a hot cup of tea.

"We'll kind of be a bit nice, but not very, very nice."

Even at this coldest time of year,

around 2,000 people are arriving every day, all of whom have to be

registered before they can carry on with their journeys through Serbia.

Until they've been processed, they can't enter the relief tents.

Look behind me.

It's this again, we've got a wonderful tent,

like a wedding marquee tent, with a huge silver pipe pumping

boiling hot air into this tent, OK, and the tent, as you can see

through the cracks, is completely empty, and the people, if I turn

you round, the people who should be in the warm tent are all behind me.

This is the madness of this crisis.

HE CRIES

How are you feeling?

Where are you trying to go?

-Norway?

-Yes.

-So you're getting used to the cold for Norway.

-Yeah.

So who are you running away from? Isis or Assad?

You are stuck in the middle?

Are you happy? How do you feel that you left? Are you happy?

Yes and no in the same.

Yes and no together? OK.

Having queued to get their papers checked yet again, it's only

when they get inside the camp that people can at least get

a hot cup of tea, some food and clean clothes if they need them.

If it wasn't for the volunteers, I'm not sure any of this would be here.

There's also a medical clinic run by an Israeli charity.

-What's this baby's name?

-Leah.

-Leah.

So you're getting good at hypothermia?

Because people are queuing for an hour or an hour and a half

before registration with their babies.

How cold was this baby?

-32.

-32 is cold.

-Yes.

Put it this way, I have never seen a baby in the UK

-with a body temperature of 32.

-Yes.

-It would be an emergency in the hospital.

-Yes, yes.

And this is a very happy warm baby now.

I've overtaken Chris to travel 1,500 miles the easy way by plane.

I'm heading for one of the key destinations for many migrants,

the infamous Calais Jungle.

This is a place where people have ended up.

It may not be what they want to be their final destination,

but I think people are getting stuck here, and so,

I'm expecting we're going to see maybe quite different medical

problems, I don't know exactly what,

but living in a camp is very different to being on the move.

I feel quite nervous as we get closer to the Jungle,

thinking, what are we going to find here?

Oh, my God, this is appalling.

You cannot imagine that we are in northern Europe.

It doesn't look like anyone should live here at all.

There's estimated to be around 5,000 people here,

and everyone wants to get to the UK,

either because of family ties,

or because they believe Britain

is the best place in Europe

to make a new life.

So I thought I was coming to a refugee camp,

but this is a proper shantytown, and this is the high street.

There's restaurants, there's shops, there's a hairdresser.

And then in the background, you've got the Western world.

This barricaded motorway, with all trucks and cars driving

along it, policemen lining it, all separated by a massive fence.

You can see this horrible inequality between the two bits of the world.

What it must be like to turn up, having come all the way from Syria,

and end up here, and you must be wondering what on earth you've done.

HE COUGHS

What is that? What is that?

This is the police gas?

-So they gas them when they try and climb over?

-This is police game.

COUGHING: Are these people leaving because of the gas? Oh, my God.

We have to leave.

The following morning, I've returned to the Jungle.

On the edge of the camp is a clinic run by MSF.

Even at 9am, there's a queue of patients.

There are many families with young children.

He has a fever and cough.

-How long is he sick?

-Two days.

-Two days.

Because the Jungle is too cold, you know what I mean?

Aaaah. Aa-aa.

The Behar family from Iraq are one of dozens with colds

and chest infections.

But there are other patients with conditions that have nothing

to do with the weather.

A young Afghan man has a suspected broken arm after

a confrontation with the police.

OK, can you move your fingers?

So he broke his arm because he fell from the fence?

Yes, when he saw police, he tried to come back and from the top,

police moved the fence and he fell on this wrist.

You don't know until he's had an X-ray,

he can certainly move his fingers, his hand is warm,

so it hasn't interrupted the blood supply or the nerves,

but still, this can be a very big problem, he may need surgery.

If he has surgery, that will be very complicated

because he's living in the Jungle.

Is this uncommon to see broken bones from the police?

-I don't know, four, five each week.

-Really?

Yes.

Because of the severity of the injury,

MSF is able to send him to the local hospital for treatment.

What will you do, when your bones heal?

Will you try again to go to London?

Yes, tomorrow. After tomorrow, this is OK, I am after trying.

Bonjour.

It's complicated, isn't it?

He's trying to get to England, he's fallen off the fence,

but the police were shaking the fence.

It's kind of a self-inflicted injury,

but he's in a really difficult situation.

Medically, I'd say, you're crazy, don't try and go anywhere

with a broken arm, but for his life, it's not much of a life here.

One of the volunteers helping out in the camp is

an expert in public health from Cambridge University.

What are the big problems here?

Lack of hygiene, lack of sanitation, lack of access to clean water.

Essentially, fundamental public health infrastructure.

'Stephen has spent the last month here assessing conditions.'

If this was in the UK, if this was a music festival in the UK,

it would never be allowed to happen again.

There are standards about access to toilets.

At UK music festivals, it's one toilet for 25 people.

Here, you're looking at one toilet for nearly 100.

There's a factory over here.

That produces chemicals that go into the air.

Underneath our feet is an old industrial dump.

There's asbestos a few feet below...

-So this is like the worst place to put a camp?

-Yes, it's a question

of when something is going to kick off, not if.

-Do you mean an epidemic?

-Yes.

Hopefully it won't be anything as severe as cholera,

maybe some other form of diarrhoeal disease,

but it is going to be a "when", not an "if" question.

What's amazing to me about this place is it's not a managed camp.

I've never been in a camp where the United Nations isn't doing stuff,

a lot of NGOs aren't running things, where the

state isn't taking much of an interest.

Yes, the French government have refused to classify this

as a humanitarian crisis.

Oxfam isn't here, the Red Cross isn't here, the UN's not here.

What we end up having is a bunch of essentially ragtag volunteers.

It's not like an emergency response.

These people are not treated as humans.

They are treated as a nuisance, as essentially vermin.

Whatever reasons lie behind the lack of basic assistance

for the people of the Jungle,

it's not deterred migrants from coming here in large numbers.

Every day sees around 50 new arrivals.

The result feels to me like a crisis within a humanitarian crisis.

The majority of migrants are not heading to Britain

and don't end up in the Jungle.

Throughout my journey, I've often been told

that the favourite destination is Germany

where the response has been led by the state, not by volunteers.

It's a cold, grey day in Berlin.

This city, which is smaller than London, has taken 80,000 people.

Germany as a whole has taken a million people.

I want to see, how are they getting on? How are they faring?

How are they being treated?

The LaGeSo registration centre is where migrants join long queues

for the paperwork they need to begin the asylum process.

Some have travelled more than 3,000 miles to get here.

This queue is full of Syrians and Afghans, Libyans

and Kosovans and Albanians.

It's an amazingly ethnically diverse group.

I just can't believe...

Surely all these people are not going to get asylum?

LOUD SHOUTING

But no matter where they're from, until their status

has been decided, there's help for everyone.

This clinic has been established to treat common medical problems.

But it also feeds migrants in greater need

into the German health system.

This is how the Germans are taking care of the refugees.

Quite different to...

Sorry.

..the great Macedonian border.

'I'm here to see Harry, a young Kurdish man from Iraq

'who travelled across Europe in his wheelchair.'

How old were you when you broke your back?

Eight years ago.

And before that your legs worked?

Your legs were fine? You were walking.

OK.

-Can you feel, touch, here?

-Yeah, I feel that.

-Feel this?

-Feel that.

-This?

-Yeah, I don't feel.

-Nothing here?

-Yeah, nothing here.

OK, so... Show me where the limit of feeling is.

Yeah, I feel there.

I don't feel.

I think for a long time, the best thing will be physical therapy.

I think in Germany there are very good physical therapists

-who can help with that.

-I think so.

And you have the strength here to be very good with a wheelchair.

-You have the strength.

-Yeah, it's been a long time, this.

'It's very unlikely that Harry will ever be able to walk again.

'But I feel confident that he'll flourish

'if he's allowed to stay here.'

Being in a wheelchair in Germany, possibly more than

any other country on earth, there is a community

that you can be a part of.

He's not going to get his legs back, but I suspect

that his life here is going to be a lot easier.

'In Germany, it's been a huge undertaking

'to cope with such a large influx of people in need.'

Places like this former airport, Tempelhof,

have been converted into emergency shelters

for thousands of recent arrivals.

Wow.

This is a breathtaking...

bit of engineering and construction.

'Katoba came here from the Iraqi city of Ramadi

'after it fell to ISIS.'

At first, we're looking for peace.

The next, I want to continue my studying.

-I'm studying medicine...

-Oh.

-..and general surgery.

-So, I'm a doctor.

-Ah!

-That's very nice.

-Thank you.

'Katoba is one of what will soon be 7,000 people

'living in this hostel.

'In a matter of months, the authorities have already managed

'to provide warm beds, hot meals, toilets and showers

'for so many people.'

-We go by buses.

-You get a bus to go and have a shower?

-Yeah.

-And where's the shower?

-The end of this building.

-Oh, wow!

-It's a very famous building.

-Yeah, yeah.

Built by Hitler's chief architect.

We are lucky we visit this historical place for free.

-You're a very optimistic person, I think.

-Yeah.

-I can't turn back to my...

-You can't go back to Ramadi?

No, I can't. It's destroyed.

-It's destroyed.

-So, you have to succeed here.

Yeah. No way. I have to success or success.

No way.

'The way the German authorities have handled the humanitarian crisis here

'is undoubtedly impressive.

'These are the best conditions I've witnessed so far

'along the route.'

The question is - does their generous response

encourage more people to make the perilous journey?

Or is Germany simply responding in the most humane way possible?

Back in France, I'm leaving Calais Jungle to explore

another destination for large numbers of migrants.

It's a camp that's much less well-known

and where there are even fewer volunteers helping out.

'Across the road from a suburban French housing estate near Dunkirk

'is Europe's newest migrant camp that sprung up

'in just a few short months.'

Immediately walking in, this doesn't even feel like a shanty town.

This feels...

This is just people, sort of, camping in the woods.

'I've been told that there are around 3,000 people here,

'mostly Kurdish with lots of families.

'Medical charity Doctors Of The World

'runs a makeshift clinic in the camp.

'Co-ordinator Florence has been here for the past six months.'

-You go to the doctor?

-Yeah.

-You know, they're there.

Bye-bye.

There's between 200 and 300 children younger than ten years old.

Really?

-300 children living in these conditions?

-Yeah.

You can't imagine 300 children living in a place like this.

This is not... No-one should live here.

I don't know. People are going to stay in the spot

where they think they're going to get a better chance

to get to England.

It's not that they don't care, but they will not think about

living condition because they always have that hope

that tomorrow they will be in England.

It's only going to be for one more night.

I thought Calais was the worst camp I've ever seen,

but this is spectacularly worse.

This place is a measure of how desperate people are

to get to England.

You have to go through this...

hellhole to get somewhere that you want to be.

'I've heard that there's a young child in the camp

'called Ariat who's not well.

'I want to see how he's getting on and what kind of conditions

'the family are living in.

'Narus is from the Kurdish part of Iraq.

'She has six children with her.'

How long have you been living in this shelter?

TRANSLATION:

He does not look very well.

So, he has... Ooh.

He has a rash in his mouth.

How long has he had the rash for?

Is he eating OK?

This is not good. My worry is it's not chickenpox, it's measles.

Did he have his vaccinations when you were in Iraq?

He is quite ill and he should see the doctor now

and if there is a big problem, they can get him to hospital.

I'm happy to try and speak to the doctors in the clinic

and see if we can do some other things for him.

'The family are sleeping in a makeshift home

'built out of two tents and bits of plastic sheeting.'

How many people?

Five people?

And all the bedding is wet.

Is the floor wet? Yes, so everything is damp.

Oh, my goodness. And you can smell...

It smells like an old bread bin.

This is very hard to live like this.

So, we'll try and look after you.

We'll try and look after the baby, OK?

And we'll try and get you feeling a bit better.

One-year-olds, their immune systems just don't work

and everything in that place is setting the kid up

for severe illness, which is what I'm worried he's got.

'At the clinic, the doctor on duty doesn't take long

'to confirm my fears.'

He has measles, right?

Yes.

I need to bring him to the hospital.

You think he should go to hospital?

-Yes.

-I do, I agree with you.

You know how to use that?

OK, no more than three times a day.

It's for the fever.

This is the worst thing I've seen on this entire journey.

Looking at little Ariat, everything about him

says he should go to hospital and he's only one year old.

But his mother doesn't want to take him.

She's got five other kids here. I think she's frightened

of the French authorities and you can't make someone go to hospital.

The terrifying thing is he's not the only kid here.

There are hundreds of other kids here and

the risks of a measles epidemic in a place like this

are very high.

Measles in England doesn't kill anyone, or very rarely.

Measles in a place like this kills kids very quickly.

'After two weeks on the migrant trail, I'm travelling

'from Germany to France to pick up Xand

'before we head back to the UK.'

The reason Xand and I did this trip is cos we both worked

in these humanitarian crises where people desperately

need medical help.

But it's very simple when you go to an earthquake or a flood

or a cyclone or a famine and you just set up a tent

and you treat people's needs.

'What we've witnessed on this trip is not a natural disaster.

'Yet, it's the biggest humanitarian crisis in Europe

'since World War II.

'From the Greek islands to the northern French coast,

'we've witnessed the conditions migrants are facing.

'It's clear those conditions are no deterrent for those

'wishing to make the journey.'

Bloody hell.

That is nuts, isn't it?

You all right? How you doing?

-Nice to see you!

-This is unbelievable.

I've just come from the most organised German camp.

This isn't even the worst bit.

I have all this jumble of thoughts about my response to this.

How do you end up feeling about the whole crisis?

To come and see all this as a doctor, through a medical lens,

you just go, "Oh, OK, I can see loads of health problems,

"but I know how to fix the health problems.

"But I don't know how to fix the dilemmas

"about immigration and refugees."

-I haven't got a way of...

-Yeah, I feel like this isn't

a mess that's going away anywhere soon, is it?

-This is going to keep happening.

-And I guess when I think about all that,

the main feeling I've had through the whole trip is,

"Thank God this isn't me."

If this was my family in this situation,

I would not be able to cope.

I've never felt more lucky in my life.