For more than 11 years, the Syrian conflict has been characterized by intentional and frequent attacks on the healthcare sector as a form of punishment and warfare. The objective of these attacks is to prevent local communities from accessing essential health services and to force displacement. Although civil society organizations such as SAMS and PHR have made significant strides in documenting these attacks, the long-term consequences of these attacks have not been thoroughly studied.
After the catastrophic earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northwest Syria on February 6th, 2023, the deficiencies in the healthcare system in Northwest Syria became evident. However, these shortcomings are not recent and are the result of multiple factors, including depleted funds, politicized humanitarian aid, sieges, and economic deterioration. Attacks on health have been identified as the most severe cause, with civil society organizations such as SAMS and PHR jointly reporting over 1070 attacks on the health system and more than 930 health workers killed. Nevertheless, the impact of such attacks on health outcomes, health systems, and health workers has not been adequately studied.
To address this knowledge gap, civil society partners, including SAMS and ACU, and academic partners, such as the University of California, Berkeley, and Johns Hopkins University, have collaborated to investigate how different types of attacks on health facilities, both direct and indirect, impact healthcare providers, health services, and key health outcomes. The focus of this research is on the Idlib governorate due to the extensive attacks on this region.
The findings of this research will provide a model for monitoring public health vulnerabilities resulting from attacks on health in other contexts. Ultimately, this research aims to shift the discourse surrounding attacks on health by emphasizing their impact on both health systems and health workers, thereby informing discussions on accountability, advocacy, and programming to better safeguard health and reduce harm in settings of prolonged conflict.
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