Disrupted Health Care In Syria: The State of Reproductive Health

As the Syrian conflict enters its eighth year, it continues to decimate the country’s infrastructure and society. Essential civilian structures have not been spared. For the healthcare system, the impact is staggering. Medical facilities have been deliberately and systematically targeted. Many physicians have fled the country and hundreds have been killed or arrested. This has left a deeply depleted health sector in which the remaining medical staff are struggling to fill the gaps. The conflict has also caused critical shortages of medical equipment and supplies, pushing medical personnel to seek alternative means of providing adequate treatment to patients in need.

This grim reality has exacted a heavy toll on the provision of reproductive healthcare in particular. While the conflict has affected populations across gender, age, political and religious affiliation, for women especially, the challenges are tremendous. In the Syrian context, expectant women struggle to maintain healthy pregnancies and to give birth safely amidst the war’s persistently corrosive effects on reproductive healthcare, which largely impede access to adequate services and family planning.

This report by the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) documents the impact of the Syrian conflict on the provision of reproductive health. It recounts the challenges faced by medical workers and patients in Dara’a, Idlib, and East Ghouta, and highlights the resilience demonstrated by reproductive health providers in the face of adversity.