Safe deliveries in the midst of war in SyriaAs the war in Syria continues many couples (re)start their families in a situation of displacement. With an inoperable public health system and skyrocketing inflation, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society provides the only option they have for affordable and trustworthy health care.

Barriers to health care for internally displacedThe war in Syria has led to the disintegration of the public health system. In 2015 nearly half of Syrian hospitals were inoperable due to damage, lack of supplies or the emigration of essential medical staff. Other facilities have lost credibility and the population does not trust that they provide neutral and independent medical treatment. This situation is especially critical to women and children under the age of 5, who have fled the conflict.

Riban Abu Hassan and her husband are among the 6.5 million Syrians who have been internally displaced due to the conflict. They were forced to flee their hometown after it was destroyed by bombings, and are now living in a small apartment in Jaramana, a suburb outside of Damascus. She is expecting her first child in a few weeks, and describes the difficulties of living in Syria today:

FACTS ABOUT THE SYRIAN CONFLICT• Casulties: 470,000• Wounded: 1.9 million• Refugees: 4 million• Internally displaced: 6.5

million

IMPROVING ACCESS TO MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH

“Food, clothes, everything has become more expensive. We need to save where we can”, she says. 13.8 million people have lost their source of livelihood in Syria, and inflation has increased drastically during the war. As an example, the price of milk has increased tenfold. This naturally causes Riban to worry. “I am scared about the future – what it will bring for my child”, she speculates.

Red Crescent actionWhile the public health services have been greatly reduced, Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society (SARC) has stepped in to fill the gap, providing life-saving services for the increasing number of internally displaced and people living in poverty.

SARC has increased its health facilities from 24 to 92, in addition to the 38 mobile units they operate. Moreover, SARC operates emergency health points and clinics to serve the population in contested areas or where large numbers of internally displaced people live. These clinics provide free consultations and ambulance services, and also include gynecological services to provide for women’s and girls’ health needs, as this group makes up 80% of the patients.

AchievementsAn increasing number of pregnant women are using the SARC clinics. This is both due to the large number of people who have fled their homes and no longer have access to their local health facilities, and also because of the increasing number of people living in poverty, who can no longer afford the expensive alternative.

Riban is one of the 50,000 pregnant women who during the last year have benefited from the SARC clinics. Pregnant women can receive five prenatal consultations, and at least two post-natal visits.

We met Riban the day she learned the gender of her baby during an examination by the clinic gynecologist Fatehmah Taleb. “I am very happy that I can come to Fatehmah here at the Red Crescent clinic. She is very good. If I couldn’t come for these free check-ups, we would have to cut down even more.”

One of the SARC doctors, Dr. Tareq, says that there has been an increase in the number of pregnancies recently, compared to at the beginning of the war, because even though the war doesn’t seem to end anytime soon, life still goes on.

For further information please contact: Danish Red Cross Country Coordinator Syria, Alfredo Melgarejo, email: almel@rodekors.dk or Syrian Arab Red Crescent email: sarc@net.syinfo@sarc.sy

KEY RESULTS OF SARCS INTERVENTION• 68 health facilities

established• 393,429 medical consul-

tations (4/2014 – 3/2015) • 37,557 ambulance missions

(4/2014 – 3/2015) • 50,000 pregnant women

used the Red Crescent clinics in 2015

Safe deliveries in the midst of war in Syria