21 March 2019 – Baby Aynaa was only three months old when she and her mother fled from conflict-torn Deir-ez-Zor to Al-Hol camp in the neighbouring governorate of Al-Hasakeh. They endured a week-long journey in freezing temperatures and driving rain, with little food or water to sustain them. By the time she reached the safety of the camp, Aynaa was severely malnourished and close to death. Her weight had plummeted to 2.7 kgs and she was comatose.

6 March 2019 - Um Hassan, from rural Aleppo, was collecting truffles in the countryside to sell in local markets. At the end of a long day of backbreaking work in harsh winter conditions, she and her children climbed into a crowded lorry to begin their journey home. Half-way through their trip, the lorry drove over an unexploded mine. Um Hassan’s 10-year old daughter Lolo was killed instantly and two of her other children were seriously injured.

31 January 2019, Damascus, Syria – The World Health Organization is extremely concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Al-Hol camp in Al-Hasakeh governorate, and calls on all parties to the conflict to provide unhindered humanitarian access to people in need of life-saving aid.

Over the last 2 months, approximately 23 000 people, mainly women and children fleeing hostilities in rural areas of neighbouring Deir-ez-Zor, have arrived in the camp. Many of them have walked or travelled in open trucks for several days and nights in the bitterly cold winter weather. Their journeys have been delayed en route by lengthy security screening procedures in an exposed field, and their ordeal has not ended on arrival to the camp. Thousands of new arrivals have been forced to spend several nights in the camp’s open-air reception and screening areas, without tents, blankets or heating. At least 29 children and newborns are reported to have died over the past 8 weeks, mainly from hypothermia, while travelling to the camp or shortly after arrival.

Khaled after receiving the cochlear device. Photo: WHO Syria 2019

30 January 2019, Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic – 14-year-old Khaled lives with his mother and 3 brothers in eastern Ghouta, Rural Damascus. His father died 5 years ago, leaving his family with very little. Following his father’s death, Khaled and his family lived through some of the darkest days of the conflict. The situation was even more distressing for Khaled, who suffers from congenital hearing loss. When his hearing aid broke 5 years ago, his mother could not afford the cost of a replacement. Khaled has lived in a world of silence ever since, unable to communicate with others and they unable to communicate with him. 

“When Khaled’s hearing aid broke, his teacher didn’t know how to deal with him, so she asked him to sit at the back of the class,”, said his mother. “He was always sitting on his own, and one by one his schoolmates abandoned him. He felt lonely and isolated and eventually he refused to go back to school.” 

Khaled’s mother grew increasingly desperate, and asked everyone she knew how she could get help for her son. One of her friends told her about Tamayoz Social Care Association, one of the many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Syria supported by WHO that treat patients for free.