Photo: WHO/Irmak Alpagut
The Community Health Support Staff (CHSS) project supports the employment of Syrian personnel in the Turkish health sector. It acts as a bridge between homebound patients and Migrant Health Centres by having CHSS on the constant lookout for more complicated health issues that may require intervention by a doctor from the Refugee Health Training Centre.
As part of the programme CHSS can attend trainings on providing home care to the elderly and disabled, which are regularly offered by WHO. This gives employment opportunities to the participants and provides access to primary health care services to the patients.
The programme was launched in WHO’s seven Refugee Health Training Centres in 2018. As of January 2020, 279 CHSS members have been hired and 815 patients have benefited from home care services.
The project is run jointly by the World Health Organization and the Turkish Ministry of Health and funded by the German Government through KfW Development Bank.
Raida is a cheerful young woman and the mother of twins. Two years ago, she left Aleppo with her mother and husband. Now a refugee in Ankara, she is one of the 350 Syrians WHO is training to serve as home-care staff for older and disabled Syrians living in Turkey.
Back in her country, Raida was a nurse. She worked in a local hospital for 3 years, but in the rush to flee the country, she left her diploma at home. Now, WHO’s new programme provides her with the opportunity to care for patients once again.
“This is a new challenge for me, but I like learning and having new experiences,” she explains. “What I’m learning during the classes is similar to what I studied before, but I have forgotten many things and this is helping me to refresh my knowledge.”
This project is funded by the German Federal Government through KfW Development Bank.