World Vision Warns Of Spiralling Health Crisis And Spread Of Disease In Syria Following Earthquakes

• World Vision is concerned about growing health needs in Syria where health facilities are overwhelmed by the wounded and operating at very limited capacity
• Very little humanitarian aid has reached Northwest Syria in the past 4 days, and medical supplies are running out.
• Doctors have warned that children are at risk of developing hypothermia and being exposed to waterborne diseases.
• Health facilities were already overstretched and waterborne disease outbreaks were occurring prior to Monday's earthquakes.

World Vision is concerned about growing health needs in Syria following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Southern Türkiye and Northern Syria on February 6th.

Humanitarian aid has been slow to reach Northwest Syria and the very first cross-border shipments arrived on Friday – more than three days after the earthquake hit.

World Vision’s Syria Response Director, Johan Mooij, says he’s worried about a lack of medical supplies and says local stocks are quickly running out.

“We are working tirelessly to make sure the most urgent needs are covered during these very challenging times.

“So far, very little aid has made it into Northwest Syria while hundreds of thousands of children and their families remain stranded out in the cold. Hospital facilities are particularly overwhelmed by the wounded and need more medical supplies,” he says.

Mooij says injured women, men and children have been lining up emergency rooms for days and needs are growing as more survivors are pulled from under the rubble in critical condition.

He says doctors have warned that children are at risk of developing hypothermia due to the extreme weather conditions.

World Vision New Zealand National Director, Grant Bayldon, says fears are growing that waterborne diseases such as cholera or hepatitis A will begin to spread due to the lack of water infrastructure and crowded shelters.

“Syria was already experiencing a cholera outbreak prior to the earthquake, but this disaster has created the perfect environment for a health crisis – fuelled by reduced healthcare capacity and disease outbreaks,” he says.

He says malnutrition and stunting are also on the rise in Syria, with mothers and children being particularly impacted. Their situation will only deteriorate if humanitarian aid is not scaled up accordingly.

World Vision teams responded quickly last Monday to assess the most urgent needs on the ground.

We have provided 17,000 litres of fuel to health facilities as well as search and rescue teams in Northwest Syria to enable them to keep running their operations transporting and treating the wounded.

World Vision has also provided much needed heaters and fuel to more than 1,605 impacted communities seeking refuge in collective shelters scattered across the Northwest. This will allow displaced families to keep the power running and stay warm until more temporary solutions are found.

“Humanitarian access must remain open and assistance must be scaled up so that we can avoid a much bigger crisis.

“Children are in desperate need of support in Syria. Even before Monday’s earthquake, conflict had meant that hundreds of thousands were already struggling to survive and now their homes have been devastated, leaving them with no shelter, no schools and no medical services,” Bayldon says. 

World Vision New Zealand has launched an appeal to provide urgent supplies to children and families in Turkiye and Syria. To donate go to www.worldvision.org.nz or text RESPOND to 5055.

Notes

· World Vision has been working in the Middle East region for nearly 40 years.

· The biggest earthquake in Türkiye in decades struck about 37km north-west of Gaziantep on February 6 at 4.17AM local time, rocking neighbouring Syria which has endured nearly 12 years of civil war.

· World Vision has been providing aid to children and families in Syria, Jordan, and Turkey, all of which have suffered from the Syrian conflict and resulting humanitarian crisis. Since the Syrian refugee crisis began, we’ve helped more than 7.5 million children and their families in the region.

· The conflict has created the largest refugee and displacement crisis of our time, affecting millions of people and spilling into surrounding countries. Even before the quake, more than 4 million people in Northern Syria were relying on humanitarian assistance.

Syrian refugee crisis by the numbers:

• 6.9 million people are displaced within Syria.
• An estimated 5.8 million children need humanitarian aid to meet their basic needs in Syria and neighbouring countries.
• Syria is among the most dangerous countries in the world.
• More than 3.6 million refugees are hosted in neighbouring Türkiye, the largest refugee population worldwide.
• Nearly 13,000 children have died or been injured in Syria since the beginning of the war.
• More than 50% of Syrians live in extreme poverty, on less than $1.90 a day.

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