Sectoral impact:
- Disrupted supply of medicines, medical supplies and equipment.
- Access to and functionality of basic health services remain a significant challenge in the health sector due to damage and non-functionality of health facilities. The WoS Q3 2024 Health Resources and Services Availability Monitoring System analysis indicates that 38 per cent of hospitals and 59 per cent of primary health facilities are either partially functioning or not functional.
- Attacks on healthcare facilities in Syria severely undermine the already fragile healthcare system: 77 attacks were reported in 2024, resulting in 134 injuries and 23 deaths. 69 of these incidents were reported since 27 November, resulting in damage to health facilities and ambulances, and injuries among healthcare personnel.
- Increased risk of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and outbreaks including AWD/cholera and other water-borne diseases, as well as respiratory diseases, due to disrupted access to safe water, sanitation, poor shelter and overcrowding, as well as damaged water and sanitation infrastructure, congested displacement sites, and environmental pressures.
- Significant shortage of health workers, affecting access to health services. 8 out of 14 governorates are still below the standard threshold of health workers' availability per 10,000 population.
- A shortage of specialists continues in trauma and emergency care, intensive care, orthopaedics, psychiatry, anaesthesia, oncology, and prosthetics.
- The funding gap has had a significant impact on the health sector, causing shortages of essential medicines, medical supplies, and staff, forcing many health facilities to function at reduced capacity or close entirely.
- Limited access to antenatal and postnatal care is evident, as only 1,327 (78 per cent) of 1,702 health facilities have functional basic emergency obstetric and new-born care services.
- Non-communicable diseases contribute to 50-70 per cent of all mortality, exacerbated by limited access to services and treatments for these conditions.
- Oncology patients face limited access to diagnosis, treatment, and palliative care, with a lack of oncology specialists and essential medicines, including chemotherapeutic drugs.
- Patients with end stage renal failure are struggling to access life-saving care due to shortages in dialysis sessions and supplies, recent damage to facilities and non-functioning dialysis machines.
- Psychological effects of the conflict have raised demand for mental health services, which are already scarce and constrained by a shortage of mental health professionals and psychotropic drugs.
Immediate needs:
- Ensure provision of essential life-saving health services including primary healthcare (PHC), maternal and child health, and communicable and non-communicable disease.
- Strengthen disease surveillance for infectious diseases, particularly waterborne, respiratory and vector-borne illnesses, as well as vaccine-preventable diseases, to quickly detect outbreaks and respond promptly.
- Enhance the referral mechanism to ensure continuum of care, particularly for critically ill cases from camp settings.
- Increase access to health services and provision of emergency trauma care, including deployment of emergency medical teams.
- Improve access to mental health and psychosocial services, including community-based support as well as psychotropic medicines, to affected populations and healthcare workers.
- Ensure efficient supply chain of emergency medicines and medical supplies including trauma, sexual and reproductive health kits, non-communicable disease (NCD) medicines, AWD kits and dialysis sessions.
- Support immunization efforts for routine childhood vaccinations and priority diseases.
- Implement training for healthcare providers on emergency response, disease management, and psychosocial support.
Priority activities:
- Ensure continuity of essential life-saving and life sustaining mobile, primary and secondary health services to the affected population. This includes referral mechanisms to emergency and secondary care, including trauma care; treatment of severe acute malnutrition with complications; treatment of critical NCDs/chronic diseases; and enhancing access to mental health and psychosocial response services, including outreach teams.
- Strengthen routine vaccination and campaigns.
- Provide emergency medicines and supplies such as trauma kits and enhance emergency preparedness by sustaining stockpiles of medicines. This includes the procurement of reagents, lab/testing kits and consumables for specimen collection and diagnosis of water-borne diseases, and respiratory diseases.
- Strengthen outbreak prevention, control, and response capacity throughout Syria: including enhancing surveillance, lab capacities, and the capacity of rapid response teams.
- Respond to ongoing cholera transmission, including conducting oral cholera vaccine campaigns in areas with active cases.
- Expand access to sexual and reproductive health services through strengthening the basic emergency obstetric and new-born care and comprehensive emergency obstetric and new-born care service facilities, and response to violence against women and children.
- Strengthen the capacity of health care providers and community health care workers to provide essential health services and ensure risk communication and community engagement activities.
- Light rehabilitation and re-equipping of critical infrastructure in 5 per cent of the health facilities that are non- or partially functional.
- Conduct a rapid assessment to identify the most urgent health needs and risks among the affected population, as well as available resources and key gaps.
- Strengthen leadership, coordination and IM to ensure effective management and monitoring of the public health emergency.
Response strategy:
All modalities will be utilized to ensure access to health services delivery through health facilities, mobile medical and outreach teams, and referral services. This enables health sector partners to reach newly displaced, rural, or access-constrained populations without access to static health facilities.
Health partners will support the operation of ambulances to move and refer patients between healthcare levels. The health sector will ensure that essential medicines and supplies are made available to maintain the functionality of primary and secondary care health facilities, as well as support immunization services for IDPs and host communities.
The health sector will continue to strengthen preparedness capacity to detect and deliver a timely response to disease outbreaks, including enhanced surveillance, laboratory testing and diagnostic capacities, rapid response teams, and the provision of essential medical supplies.
The health sector supports a multi-layer response: community engagement, early warning, health security measures, clinical care, and specialized services with integrated MHPSS, GBV services, and physical rehabilitation. Partners will incorporate PSEA into response programming, ensure AAP and monitor its implementation.
The health system is impacted by insufficient WASH and power supply infrastructure, and health outcomes are affected by social and environmental determinants. Thus, the health sector will maintain strong collaboration with WASH, nutrition, protection, and GBV. The health sector also enhances AAP by including affected people in health program design and implementation, including health needs, priorities, and preferred service delivery modalities.