Amman, 28 June 2023 — The International Rescue Committee (IRC), with the cooperation of the European Union (EU), has successfully concluded a program to enhance access to life-saving protection and health services, and improve the ability of Syrians to cope with crisis by meeting immediate basic needs.
Aimed at addressing the most critical needs of Syrian communities, the EU is supporting the IRC with a total contribution of more than 11 million euros and has reached more than 300,000 people since April 2022.
After 12 years of war, Syrians are enduring one of the most prolonged humanitarian crises of the 21st century. Around 15.3 million people need humanitarian aid today, and as the economic crisis drives up both food prices and deepens poverty, 90% of Syrians are now living below the poverty line. February’s devastating earthquake has resulted in needs rising with thousands of people killed and tens of thousands of buildings collapsed or severely damaged. Damage to infrastructure, roads, and health facilities has made it more difficult for people to access life-saving assistance.
Additionally, conflict has left a third of all hospitals and nearly half of the primary healthcare centres non-functional. Similar damage has been caused to water infrastructure, with almost half of Syrians now reliant on alternative and often unsafe water sources. Against this backdrop, a cholera outbreak that began in August 2022 has now reached more than 92,000 suspected cases by March 2023. The outbreak is overstretching health services and making it even harder for people to access appropriate care for other diseases.
Tanya Evans, Country Director of IRC Syria, said:
“Armed conflict, climate change, a natural disaster, and renewed epidemics continue to plunge Syria into an ever-deepening crisis.With the support of the European Union, we can protect the most vulnerable communities, especially women and children, from the risks they are disproportionately exposed to.
We are able to do this work because of our teams on the ground, who are themselves affected by this prolonged crisis, but whose motivation does not wane. To respond to the cholera outbreak, our teams have been training clinical staff and community health workers and providing essential supplies for cholera prevention, treatment, and control. Fixing misconceptions of this disease was crucial and so we have been conducting educational sessions to help people become informed of how cholera is transmitted and how they can prevent it or treat it.
The immense needs on the ground do not diminish, and our teams will always be there ready to respond. We thank the European Union for making this possible.”
The IRC has more than 1,000 staff inside Syria working to provide life-saving health care, protection and tailored support to the communities we serve. In response to the devastating earthquake, we have launched an integrated response to provide crucial support to affected populations. This response builds on our existing programming in Syria, which has supported communities in the country’s northwest and northeast since 2012.
Through funding from the EU, the IRC provided counselling and protection services for women and children, particularly for survivors of violence. The organisation’s staff has supported health facilities and mobile health teams with critical trauma services and primary, reproductive, and mental health services. To respond to the cholera outbreak, IRC teams have also included the provision of essential supplies for cholera prevention, control, and treatment, training of clinical staff and community health workers on case detection, management, and referral, as well as health education and hygiene awareness through community outreach.
The International Rescue Committee partners with the European Union to provide life-saving support to people caught in conflict and disasters around the world. Our work funded by the EU enables people to survive, recover and rebuild their lives.