On July 9, 2020, the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Idlib, Syria. Northwest Syria is home to over 4 million people, many of whom have been displaced several times over and lack adequate access to shelter and healthcare. Hospitals are systematically attacked in Syria, leaving communities even more vulnerable. In northwest Syria, MedGlobal has worked with local partners like Rahma Worldwide to distribute more than 8,000 PPE, 5,000 sanitizers & personal hygiene kits, and other medical supplies. MedGlobal has supported vulnerable Syrian families in the Atmeh IDP camp at a 150-person quarantine center in Darkoush, which provides food, hygiene, housing, and medical checks for displaced families while they wait to return to the general community. MedGlobal is also preparing to build two oxygen generators, one in Darkoush and one in Idlib City, which will supply health care facilities in these areas with critically-needed oxygen.
One of the worst humanitarian crises since World War 2 with over 6.2 million internally displaced persons and 13.1 million people in need. MedGlobal has supported over 100,000 beneficiaries with medical equipment and supplies, including emergency, surgical and primary care. We developed an emergency response project by donating ambulance and medical supplies in besieged areas of Eastern Ghouta. We have further supported over 1,000 surgeries performed on trauma and burn patients affected by the ongoing war and provided treatment for children with malnutrition, acute and chronic disease.
In 2020, MedGlobal assisted winterization efforts including the distribution of blankets and shelters as well as evacuation efforts to Idlib and northern rural Aleppo of over 1200 internally displaced people.
“I saw some villages completely emptied or half-emptied of their residents,” said Dr. Zaher Sahloul, the president of MedGlobal, an organization that sends medical teams to disaster regions, who risked the bombardments and threats from extremist groups to visit some of the most devastated areas this week.
“Sharing the information with the United Nations did not lead to greater protection,” said Dr Zaher Sahloul, the president of MedGlobal who was recently in Idlib. “If anything people are thinking right now that by sharing this information it’s increasing the risk of targeting the hospitals.”
“Women want to control the time that they deliver because things are unexpected,” Sahloul said. “A bombing can happen at any time, and in the middle of the night you cannot move to the hospital.”
The continued fighting and crisis in Idlib left people with nowhere to go except the Euphrates shield area and Olive Branch to the northeast that is controlled by Turkey. Turkey has sealed its border and is not allowing refugees in.
Turkey already has 3.5 million Syrian refugees and there is an expected 1-2 million more Syrians who will be displaced at the Syrian-Turkish border.
Preparations are underway in Turkey to accommodate 580,000 IDPs in Efrin/Euphrates shield area, though nothing is finalized. The cost of displacement of 800,000 people is projected to be about 350 million dollars, with 200 million already allocated from the UN.
The priorities for such displacement are transportation, emergency meals, shelter, food, psychological support, mobile clinics, medical supplies, and medications.
Needed emergency food baskets cost $2 each and larger food baskets that can last 1 week for a single-family cost $10. The most urgent need is for shelter and a single family’s shelter ranges from $900 to 1000 for one month ($600 for the tent, $170 NFI, $140 for food and other expenses).
There is a huge mobilization of Turkish civil society and the public to donate and send in-kind donations.
Dr. Sahloul reports from Idlib, where the humanitarian situation is catastrophic.
MedGlobal’s President, Dr. Zaher Sahloul, just returned from Idlib Provence where humanitarian and medical conditions are catastrophic. He witnessed first-hand the impact of targeting hospitals, the indiscriminate attacks on civilians, and the large displacement of desperate populations.
Watch Dr. Sahloul describe the bombing of the Pulse of Life Hospital in the Hass Village of Idlib and its impact on access to healthcare.
MedGlobal has sent urgent medical support through local partners and is now is seeking your help.
Your donation will help provide medical relief to Syria’s most vulnerable. #GiveWithMedGlobal #EyesOnIdlib
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