تم إثبات أول حالة إصابة بمرض كوفيد-19 في شمال غرب سوريا في 9 تموز 2020، وهذا يعتبر يوماً حاسماً وبداية تحدٍّ حقيقي أمام عمليات الإغاثة في سوريا. تعاني منطقة شمال غرب سوريا من نظام صحي منهك، وبنية تحتية مدمرة، وتمثل أحد أكثر المناطق اكتظاظاً بالسكان حول العالم، مع وجود 1.2 مليون شخص يعيشون في مخيمات النزوح

كعضو فاعل في فريق العمل الصحي المختص بمواجهة كوفيد19 في شمال غرب سوريا، انضمت منظمة خبراء الإغاثة إلى عدد من المنظمات الأخرى للتحضير لهذا اليوم منذ شهر آذار 2020. قامت خبراء الإغاثة بتطوير أدلة عمل إرشادية، وتدريب أكثر من 890 عاملاً وقائد مجتمع، وتوظيف عدد إضافي من عمال الصحة المجتمعية، وتركيب خيم لفرز الحالات في المراكز الصحية لتخفيف المخاطر التي يواجهها المرضى والكادر الطبي

اعتباراً من شهر تموز 2020، تقوم خبراء الإغاثة بإطلاق 750 عامل صحة مجتمعية حول مناطق شمال غرب سوريا المختلفة، ليعملوا مع عمال الإغاثة وأفراد وقادة المجتمع لتوحيد الجهود في سبيل إنقاذ حياة 4.2 مليون إنسان

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In December, Relief Experts Association (UDER) scaled up its health services in Sarmada, Termanin, and Atareb communities in Idleb and Aleppo governorates. UDER’s Sarmada and Termanin PHCs are located in Dana, which is the subdistrict that received the highest number of IDPs from southern Idleb and Maaret Annuman, according to CCCM Cluster in Gaziantep, while Atareb PHC is located in Atareb subdistrict, which is the second highest IDP arrival subdistrict.

Among the communities where Relief Experts is operating, Termanin witnessed the most significant burden, as 3 new IDP shelters were established to host the IDPs coming from southern Idleb. A referral pathway was established between Rehana IDP shelter and Termanin PHC with support from SRD’s referral network to transfer patients from Rehana and other IDP shelters to Termanin PHC. The referral cars transfer around 15-20 IDP patients at a time to Termanin PHC to receive health services in pediatric, internal medicine and gynecology clinics. The number of new IDP visits to Termanin PHC reached more than 50 per day starting mid-December, which increased the IDP visits to the facility by 30%. In Atareb and Sarmada, the health facilities have already reached their full capacity due to the large number of IDPs who arrived to these two communities during previous displacements, however, the percentage of IDP patients visiting the facilities slightly increased in December.

Although UDER’s facilities do not provide 24-hour services, the staff volunteered to respond to urgent cases after working hours, which may require an expansion in staff if the population numbers remain high for the next 2 months. The three health facilities are also providing referrals to higher level facilities in coordination with different referral networks and ambulance systems in the area. 

“We are rallying efforts in order to reach the widest range of Syrian and Arab refugees in Turkey”, Dr. Hani Taleb, UDER’s CEO.

Reaching the maximum number of refugees in Turkey with health education and advice on utilizing healthcare services is a challenge. Turkey hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees in the world, and they reside across the country in large cities and urban areas. The government of Turkey is providing a full range of health services to Syrian and Arab refugees, but these services are affected by barriers such as language, culture and social norms.

To maximize the impact of this project, UDER established a number of partnerships with local NGOs in Turkey to provide channels of communication with the wide refugee community, starting in Gaziantep and Istanbul. This effort is still far from reaching the maximum number of NGOs and civil society actors, but the network is growing every day.

UDER started its supplementary education program in Gaziantep with a select group of 5th grade students. The program aims at providing the critical support needed for these children to ensure that they can keep up with the demands of the Turkish education system despite that the have been exposed to this system for the first time in their educational life.

The Health Cluster in Gaziantep produces a monthly bulletin which provides an overall update on the main activities reported by health actors in northwestern Syria. The report talks about the recent developments in northwestern Syria, challenges and risks facing healthcare, progress towards the planned health targets and a brief from different NGOs on their conducted activities. Relief experts was part of this report which talks about its recent improvements in PHC and community health and some of the health trends picked up by UDER’s field teams.

The humanitarian situation for people in northwest Syria continues to deteriorate as the latest escalation in hostilities is now in its fourth month. Hundreds of civilians have been killed or injured due to airstrikes and shelling since 1 May while almost 630,000 displacements took place as people have fled their homes to escape from violence and to reach essential services that they need to survive.
The overwhelming majority of the displaced people are moving to densely-populated areas close to the Turkish border in northern Idleb governorate, where humanitarian assistance is overstretched.

Relief Experts Association has scaled-up its support to the newly displaced IDPs who arrived to Dana and Atareb through its primary healthcare centers and outreach community health teams. While the humanitarian response is ongoing to address the pressing needs of the newly displaced individuals as well as host communities, additional funding is urgently required to maintain and scale-up the current levels of emergency response in the coming weeks and months.

Local sources reported an accelerated movement of civilians northward away from the hostilities as the frontlines shifted. While the exact number of displaced individuals is difficult to ascertain at this stage, local sources are reporting that entire communities fled from the violence and in anticipation of hostilities affecting their villages and towns. Between 1 and 27 August, more than 130,000 displacements have been recorded from northern Hama and southern Idleb governorates. Many of these individuals and families have been displaced before, some of them multiple times, which makes them extremely vulnerable to additional shocks. The most recent wave of displacement adds increasing vulnerability for people in already dire humanitarian situation in northwest Syria. From 1 May to 27 August, some 630,000 individual displacements, which include secondary displacements2, have been recorded from northern Hama and southern Idleb governorates. Displacement within GoS-controlled areas is estimated currently at some 10,585 individuals, primarily in frontline villages in northern rural Hama and northern rural Latakia governorates.

Since late April, hundreds of civilians, many of whom are women and children, have lost their lives while countless others have suffered severe injuries, often leaving them with permanent disabilities. From 19 April to 29 August, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented that 1,089 civilians, including 572 men, 213 women and 304 children, were killed due to airstrikes and shelling carried out by parties to the conflict. The suffering of women, men, boys and girls is exacerbated by the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure crucial for survival. Since late April, 51 health care facilities have reported receiving damage by violence in northwest Syria, as reported by WHO. Over the course of only two days, 28 to 30 August, seven medical facilities were reportedly damaged by airstrikes according to WHO. Six of these facilities – four hospitals and two primary health care centres – were functional at the time of the incidents. At least two of the health facilities damaged by airstrikes in August were paediatrics and maternity hospitals, yet another example of the heavy toll that the violence is taking on women and children. Similarly, the devastating effect of the hostilities on educational facilities will become more acute as the new school year is due to start in late September. While UNICEF reported 87 incidents that affected schools due the hostilities, education cluster members reported that 59 individual schools have been damaged by the violence since late April. Moreover, at least 94 schools are reportedly being used as shelter by IDPs across northwest Syria. According to one report, out of an estimated 650,000 school-aged children in northwest Syria, less than half can be accommodated at the remaining functional schools.

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