Syria: Reaching besieged populations
2 October 2016 – Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, civilians have been denied access to life-saving and basic services, including health services, in specific areas inside the country. As of July 2016, the number of people in need living in hard-to-reach and besieged areas is 5.47 million people. In many besieged areas, gross shortages of medical personnel, severe acute malnutrition, starvation and deaths have been reported. Since the second week of July 2016, there has been a serious deterioration in the health situation in the besieged eastern part of Aleppo city, with complete restriction of access for humanitarian and health aid, and frequent attacks on health care workers and facilities.