Amman, 15 August 2018 – The World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting the provision of life-saving health care services for more than 900 000 conflict-affected people in southern Syria.

Since mid-June 2018, WHO has delivered 61 tons of supplies – enough for more than 312 000 treatments – to the Directorates of Health in Dar’a and Quneitra, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and As Sweida National Hospital. The supplies include surgical, trauma and burn kits, chronic disease medicines and insulin. WHO is also supporting the only functioning blood bank in areas of southern Syria that were formerly controlled by non-state armed groups.

Training on clinical signs during the programme at Zaid Ash-Shariti Hospital in As-Sweida governorate © WHO Syria 201825 July 2018 – Childirth is often filled with uncertainty, especially for women living in conflict-affected or insecure environments. WHO has launched a new programme to help Syrian mothers during their pregnancy and after birth to manage this life-changing event. 

The “caring for the newborn at home” initiative guides all mothers on the steps they and their families can take to ensure their newborn children have a healthy start in life. 

Under the new programme, WHO-trained community health workers will make home visits to help mothers during pregnancy and after childbirth. To begin with, the programme is being introduced in areas that are newly reconciled, or where there is limited access to health care. It aims to reach 10 000 beneficiaries per year. 

Photo: United Nations Population Fund12 July, 2018 – The World Health Organization (WHO) today called for the protection of health facilities and increased access to southern Syria, where the recent hostilities have left over 210 000 people displaced and in need of urgent health services. Up to 160 000 displaced Syrians currently seeking safety in Quneitra are inaccessible to health partners, raising concerns for their health.

“People in Dar’a and Quneitra are waiting for the humanitarian community to reach them with urgently needed aid and we cannot let them down. Access must be granted,” said Dr Michel Thieren, WHO’s Regional Emergencies Director. “We call on all parties to open the door to people in southern Syria and allow the safe delivery of  medicines and medical items they need, and to grant severely injured patients safe passage to hospitals outside the area that can save their lives.”

A WHO shipment reaches Douma in east Ghouta and is offloaded7 July 2018 – On 1 July 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) delivered over 17 tons of life-saving medicines and medical equipment to the newly accessible city of Douma in eastern Ghouta in Rural Damascus.

The WHO supplies, dispatched as part of an inter-agency humanitarian convoy, are sufficient for more than 26 000 treatments for ill and wounded patients, and will be distributed to health care facilities supported by the Directorate of Health and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. They include essential and chronic disease medicines, nutritional supplements, trauma and burn kits, mobile and fixed X-ray and ultrasound machines, laboratory supplies and operating theatre and surgical equipment.