Syria — Three years and Millions of Mothers
March 15th marks the third anniversary of the start of the conflict in Syria that’s displaced millions of refugees and trapped millions more in a country besieged by violence.
March 15th marks the third anniversary of the start of the conflict in Syria that’s displaced millions of refugees and trapped millions more in a country besieged by violence. Women and children are the primary victims of this conflict where hunger, gender-based violence, and atrocious human rights violations shock even the most seasoned humanitarians. The fact that much of the humanitarian effort being made to support Syrian refugees have been blocked by the Asaad government is a testament to just how detestable these human rights violations have become. And the stories we’re hearing about maternal health conditions are sending chills down our spine.
The numbers increase exponentially every day, but the most current estimate is that since 2011, over 100,000 people have been killed and over 11 million people have fled their homes and/or been cut off from their ability to work and support themselves. In addition, host countries like Jordan are overwhelmed by the needs of refugees experiencing severe health complications and overwhelming food insecurity. But it’s the women who are in deepest need. UNFPA estimates that 1.7 million refugees are girls and women of reproductive age and that more than 68,000 women will likely become pregnant this year.
Save the Children says that Women in Syria face huge difficulties in accessing antenatal, delivery and postnatal care, including a lack of ambulances, few female hospital staff, and frequent checkpoints and roadblocks encountered on the way to hospitals. These problems have led to a large increase in unassisted births, as well as a shift in the proportion of women opting for planned caesarean sections, despite unsanitary conditions and lack of anesthesia, for fear of giving birth at home, alone or while fleeing fighting. In other reports, it’s estimated that 96% of women had access to prenatal, antenatal and postpartum care before the conflict. Now? There are almost no services available and those hospitals, clinics and midwives that are still functioning very often can’t provide safe healthcare at all.
We’ve heard stories about hospitals doing C-sections and amputations without anesthesia, about improper storage of medications that send patients into shock. We hear about women bleeding to death in their tents, about premature births triggered by the stress of bombings and sniper fire. We hear about rapes and other incidents of violence targeting pregnant women. We hear these things and know that without wide spread humanitarian aid and ongoing political pressure to bring peace to this region, the numbers will only get worse. Through our work around the world, Every Mother Counts knows that these stories aren’t really about numbers.
They’re about women, children, mothers and families. They’re about mothers who deserve to live in peace with enough to eat and the security of highly skilled prenatal and delivery care.We don’t yet know the answer to the question: How can I help? For now, all we can say is, “We’re praying for Syria. We’re standing with Syrian mothers. We’re working to establish basic human rights for all mothers.”
