Ten years of crisis, repeated attacks on health care, death and displacement of health care workers, and an increase in hostilities towards the end of 2019 have all posed significant challenges for the ability of the health system in northwest Syria to respond to COVID-19.
WHO’s work in the country against this challenging backdrop has largely focused on protection and support for health care workers. The organization has helped strengthen preparedness and response efforts, helped established isolation and treatment centers, ensured access to personal protection equipment for health care workers and scaled up training for community health workers to disseminate public health advice.
Critical work to overcome health care workers’ challenges has been spearheaded by local health-care workers with the WHO Emergency Field Programme in Gaziantep, Turkey, the Turkey Hub Health Cluster’s COVID-19 Taskforce, and Hand in Hand for Aid and Development (HIHFAD).
Health care workers have played a vital role in fostering community awareness of the growing threat of COVID-19, which has been one of the most challenging parts of the preparedness and response effort in northwest Syria.
Health care workers have struggled to gain influence among local community, particularly in convincing them to wear masks and practise social distancing,
Stigma has been an issue from the beginning, particularly when the first case was identified among a member of the health-care workforce. Individuals often assumed they had a risk of contracting COVID-19 from health care workers.