Elsevier

The Lancet

Volume 385, Issue 9972, 14–20 March 2015, Pages 931-934
The Lancet

Special Report
Syrian crisis: health experts say more can be done

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60515-3Get rights and content

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Shattered health system

Inevitably, the war has had an unprecedented and multidimensional effect on the country's health system. What was once touted as one of the best health-care systems in the Arab world is now the worst. Hundreds of doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and paramedics have been killed, or fled to neighbouring countries or further afield, leaving a huge gap in experience and expertise that cannot be filled. Zaher Sahloul, president of the Syrian American Medical Society, said more than 600

Disease burden

Polio, which is highly contagious and transmitted via contaminated food and water, can cause paralysis and even death, and re-emerged in Syria in October, 2013—14 years since the country had been declared polio-free. The resurfacing of the virus led to a huge immunisation campaign, which targeted 27 million children across the region, several times.

A year ago the UN labelled the outbreak in Syria and its subsequent spread to Iraq as “the most challenging in the history of polio eradication”. A

Refugee crisis

Almost 4 million Syrians have fled their homes and sought refuge in neighbouring countries, including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Turkey. These countries have absorbed 97% of Syria's refugees, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

In Lebanon, a tiny Mediterranean country, Syrians make up 25% of its population. To curb the influx of refugees, the Lebanese Government introduced a new visa requirement in January stipulating that Syrians must provide documentation identifying their reason for

Holistic approach

But as the war in Syria continues to rage, doctors and health experts are focusing on the future of the health response, and planning for post-crisis recovery. Coutts said adequate health information systems were an essential cost-effective investment that would be invaluable in Syria and neighbouring countries. “The major need now and for the future is for adequate health information systems to be set up in opposition areas and to strengthen the government-run ones”, he explained. “This will

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