Asa’ad and his daughter were able to cross the border for free healthcare months ago, under authorization from the Turkish government. According to figures issued by authorities from the Syrian crossing, more than 500 patients entered Turkey to receive treatment last February.

That was until the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) accelerated, prompting the Turkish government to cut off their lifeline in mid March, just three days after Ankara confirmed its first case and two weeks before Damascus declared the appearance of its first confirmed cases.

Doctors in the Idlib governorate have stated that since mid-March only a handful of high-risk emergency cases were allowed entry into Turkey, amidst an increasing number of cases in both countries. Patients suffering from cancer and other chronic illnesses are not among them.

For the time being, Marah, along with hundreds of other patients, remains stranded and unable to receive life-saving treatment.

As Asa’ad carries his ailing child on his forearm, she rests her head on his shoulder to whisper unintelligible words. His eyes fill with tears as he says, “She has jaw cancer and as the tumor grows, her pain grows with it. These days she cannot even sleep from the agonizing pain, despite taking all types of painkillers. My daughter needs treatment. Please, Lord, don’t forsake us.”

Due to lack of treatment in north Syria, doctors have unanimously agreed on the necessity for Marah to head to Turkey for medical care, says the family, but she remains until this day stranded at the border.

With the continued spread of the Coronavirus and the accompanying restrictions against Syrians along the Syrian-Turkish border, this investigation explores the plight of those suffering from cancer and other chronic diseases as they await their turn to enter Turkey.

400 Cancer Patients Await Reprieve

The Idlib Health Directorate describes the scale of the suffering cancer patients are facing in northern Syria, amidst increasingly poor medical care in the region. Issues hindering access to treatment include acute shortages of medicine, equipment, and working medical facilities, not to mention the rising costs of the few available treatment drugs left in the area. Such difficulties prompted patients to enter Turkey through the Bab Al Hawa Border Crossing, after obtaining a medical referral from the health directorate.

On the 13th of March, the Bab Al Hawa Border Crossing announced its closure towards ‘cold case’ patients – the Arabic term that encompasses chronic illness such as cancer and heart disease – and travellers. The crossing remained closed to cancer patients until the first of June, after which authorities allowed the entry of only 5 patients a day for treatment in Turkey, following coordination between the crossing administration and Turkish authorities.

Barely a week had passed before the border pass was once again closed off, an act prompted by a number of reported Coronavirus cases in north Syria. The crossing was reopened later on, under strict requirements for patients to adhere to safety measures against the virus.

According to Doctor Mohammad al-Salam working at Bab Al Hawa Hospital, the repeated closure led to a rise in critical cases among ‘cold case’ patients.

Mazen Alloush, the director of the Office of Public Relations and Information at the crossing, has revealed that over 400 cancer patients have been waiting their turn to enter Turkey for weeks, aside from the dozens that haven’t applied in the first place. Alloush also stressed that the majority of patients need entry as soon as possible due to mounting critical cases.

As a result of recent restrictions, the medical state of Maram al-Sayyed, 45, is in rapid deterioration. This is the third consecutive time she has not been allowed to cross into Turkey for treatment, even though her 8-month-old Leukemia condition has reached well into its advanced stages.

She takes several minutes to gather her strength to speak, “I am exhausted; the disease has been eating away at my body for some time, and I am getting worse. I cannot go to government-held hospitals where people are getting arrested, while Turkey here closes the crossing. What do I do as this cancer ravages my body?”

Maram is receiving pain medication as well as up to two blood transfusions per day at the Idlib Central Hospital, to no avail.

It is up to hospitals and health centers in the liberated north to work with aid agencies to secure medication for the time being, until the rest of the cases are transferred to Turkey for the appropriate treatment.

With spread of COVID-19, the Turkish government cut off the lifeline to Syrian cancer patients seeking treatment by mid March; Three days after Ankara confirmed its first case and two weeks before Damascus declared the appearance of its first cases

“The man’s attempts to enter his cancer-afflicted daughter into Turkish territory to receive the necessary treatment have yielded no results despite putting in several applications to gain entry… For the time being, Marah, along with hundreds of other patients, remains stranded and unable to receive life-saving treatment.”

Idlib opposition Health Director Dr. Monzer Khalil describes the damages done to health facilities in northwest Syria by stating, “The regime has targeted more than 75 medical centers from April 2019 until today. Government forces advancing on and taking areas from the northern rural Hamah to the Southern rural Idlib, have caused the facilities’ closure.” He went on to point out, “Acute shortages of specialized medical staff also cannot match patient numbers. There is also a shortage in medical equipment such as MRIs, CT scans, and many others.”

Delay Leads to Death

Weeks ago, Yousef Barbour, 22, passed away due to delays in entering Turkey to receive treatment, despite the repeated appeals of his mother. The young man had needed a bone marrow transplant.

Such amounts of increased suffering prompted Syrian humanitarian actors to call on Turkish authorities to find some way to admit critical cases for medical care in their hospitals. However, the crossing remains closed.

A 3-year lung cancer patient, Salem al-Ahmad, 50, had been lucky enough to enter Turkish hospitals for treatment earlier. He says, “Things were much simpler then; Turkish doctors at the border crossing would not reject cancer patients, who were considered priority cases. What used to be over 100 cases admitted per day became just five cases, and this led to the deprivation of many patients’ early treatment.”

Mazen al-Saud, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the Free Aleppo University and former director of Doctors Without Borders hospital in Ma’arat al-Nu’man, comments, “The lack of radiotherapy in the Idlib Governorate is a major obstacle for cancer patients there, since chemotherapy is often ineffective, with the tumor reappearing more aggressively in other areas in the body.”

He adds that the number of cancer patients in the Idlib region has multiplied by 10 percent than in previous years, specifically breast cancer for women and lung, colon, and stomach cancer for men.

The WHO stated in an earlier report that cancer in Syria is 3rd among the 10 main fatal illnesses, with cases expected to further rise amidst damaged hospitals left unavailable for use.

According to the report, around 25,000 cancer patients require treatment every year, including a staggering 2,500 below the age of 15 years suffering from leukemia and lymphoma.

Within the camps of Tal Alkarama in the Harem District north of Syria, Monaf Mohammad al-Saleh, 11, suffers from speech impairment, an amputation in his left leg, and deformed fingers, along with a hazardous lack of sensation.

Monaf was hit by rocket shrapnel from Russian air raids as he played outside his home in Sarha in eastern Hama. Doctors say his leg suffered from a bacterial infection that reached the bone and left dead tissue in its wake.

His father says, “We couldn’t find him treatment. In addition to the financial situation and lack of good hospitals, he hasn’t been able to receive the proper treatment yet. He needs to enter Turkey as soon as possible. Sadly, the closed border due to the Coronavirus is endangering his life, keeping in mind that the chances of him recovering and benefiting from his treatment lessens as time passes.”

After Syrian government forces entered the village of Sarha, Monaf’s family fled to camps in northern rural Idlib. Doctors were forced to amputate the infected leg after the boy’s condition deteriorated due to lack of proper health requirements. He later got an infection on his tongue from unknown causes.

The father recounts, “It became hard for him to speak and talk. He also lost sensation in his body and couldn’t feel heat or cold or fire.”

Weapons Residues

Among the reasons for the recent spike in cancer cases in Syria, Dr. Hind, a research oncologist at the Idlib province, lists three: there has been a spread of kidney infections and liver diseases that – when left untreated – can become precursors to cancer; poor food quality and the consumption of expired goods; as well as the drastic “loss of hospitals, medical equipment and personnel that impedes routine checkups and, thus, lowers chances for early detection and diagnosis.”

The rise in cancer rates was a foreseen consequence in liberated areas, however, where toxic chemicals, heavy weaponry, rampant destruction, and environmental pollution are widespread remnants of the war.

To that extent, Dr. Ayham al-Ahmad posits the higher cancers rates in liberated areas as a result of the heavy presence of toxic and oxidized weapons, as well as the overall lack of environmental hygiene and cleanliness in these areas – all of which encourage viral and bacterial infections that act as catalysts for the development of cancerous tumors.

 His eyes fill with tears as he says, “She has jaw cancer and as the tumor grows, her pain grows with it”

Moreover, the entirety of northwest Syria suffers a shortage of cancer treatment medications, compelling patients to make the journey south towards regime-controlled areas, where treatment is more available. With its gruesome roads, many checkpoints, and costly travel expenses, however, the lengthy trips are exhaustive to both the patients’ health and their pockets.

Faisal, 43, lives with his wife and nine children in a tent at one of the many makeshift camps sprung along the Syrian-Turkish border. Six months ago, he was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor and has since not been able to get treated owing to the dilapidation of medical facilities in the Idlib province and the unfeasibility of obtaining medicine from Turkey after the shutdown of its borders.

Faisal outright refuses to go to Damascus, where he is adamant that regime forces detained two of his brothers for aiding the Syrian revolution. According to him, one of his brothers was murdered and the other disappeared not long after.

“The Turkish medical team refused to let her pass despite all our appeals, saying she is a non-emergency ‘cold case’… The delay in her treatment can lead to the growth and spread of the tumor, deteriorating her already worsening state.”

As his health deteriorated with the growth of the brain tumor, the imperative to find medication grew more urgent, and Faisal turned to charity-based pharmacies for help. Alas, to no avail.

The Turkish medical team refused to let her pass despite all our appeals, saying she is a non-emergency ‘cold case’… The delay in her treatment can lead to the growth and spread of the tumor, deteriorating her already worsening state

A doctor working at the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) office in the Turkish city of Gaziantep notes, “The SAMS center in Idlib is the only place offering treatment for breast cancer, lymphatic cancer and colon cancer in the entire province. The treatments are free and available to all, but due to the center’s lack of funding and the restrictions set on the import of certain drugs, about a third of our patients are forced to buy their medication from local drug stores run by the clinic.

Not everyone is able to procure their treatment, and the center isn’t able to treat everyone. We used to move more critical patients, like those suffering from leukemia or brain cancer, to Turkey for treatment, but that all halted with the coronavirus pandemic.”

Deteriorating Health Conditions

In the city of Ma’arrat Misrin north of Idlib, Ru’aa al-Ali, an 8-year-old brain tumor patient, hasn’t been able to enter Turkish territories for treatment despite best efforts, as Turkey continues to cut-off access to its border passes with Syria due to the ongoing pandemic.

Her mother says Ru’aa was diagnosed a year ago and underwent a 3-month-long treatment in Turkey. She returned to rural Idlib after her condition stabilized, however, “her state has worsened recently and she needs radiotherapy, which is unavailable here.”

The distraught mother goes on to say, “The Turkish medical team refused to let her pass despite all our appeals, saying she is a non-emergency ‘cold case’… The delay in her treatment can lead to the growth and spread of the tumor, deteriorating her already worsening state.”

Turkish authorities in the border crossing could not be reached for comment, while the head of a Turkish-run medical center in rural Aleppo declined to comment on the halt of medical transfers regarding both cancer and chronic disease patients.

With the continued closure of the border pass amidst the ongoing pandemic and the number of those suffering from chronic illnesses continuing to grow, the fate of more than 400 cancer patients denied access to treatment, remains pending.

This investigation was carried out under the supervision of the ‘Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism‎ (SIRAJ)’ and the support of the ‘International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)’, as well as the Facebook Journalism Project, published on Raseef22

The post With Bab Al Hawa Border Closed, Syrians Are Deprived of Cancer Treatment appeared first on SIRAJ.

Dalya (46) is a Syrian refugee living in Lebanon. She is also a widow — her husband died in one of the Syrian regime’s barrel bomb attacks, which hit her home in Eastern Ghouta in Damascus Countryside. Besides chronic diseases, as an asthma, hypertension and diabetes patient, what adds to her suffering is that she could not afford to buy any of her medicines for almost six months. 

Working on the farms, Dalya barely made10, 000 Lebanese pounds (US$2) per day. However, as COVID-19 found its way to Lebanon and a nationwide emergency state was declared, in response, she lost her job. Dalya, accordingly, could no longer pay the rent for the place where she lived. 

Dalya, having spent an hour standing there on the street, now sits on her black suitcase, stuffed with all that she owns. I was living in a hangar [barn], set up for poultry farming in the first place, she said. She cleaned the place, connected it with the electrical power grid and laid down water lines. The place was made habitable for a monthly 150,000 Lebanese pounds (about US$25).

“I was two months late on paying the rent. The woman that owned the hangar decided to kick us out, despite these harsh conditions. Is it really possible that while people are ordered to stay at home, we get evicted?” She hugs her children, who were overcome by fatigue.   

A public bus finally stops for the woman and her children. With everything on board, the bus fares to Beirut.  

Dalya is subjected to forced eviction from shelters unfit for human use. Nevertheless, she was not alone in this. Thirty other Syrian families had to suffer the same fate after they sought refuge in Lebanon, escaping the atrocities of war that followed the March 2011 protests.  

Families at risk

Dozens of Syrian families lived in the al-Massri camp in Saadnayel before the landlord coerced them to evacuate, allowing them to stay there till the end of June. 

The camp people, thus, referred to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) several times, but all their attempts at reporting the situation were to no avail. The commissioner did not respond, and they were ultimately evicted. 

The interviewed refugees expressed the same sentiment over and over again; they all lacked stability, particularity under the pandemic. While people around the world seek to stay at home and commit themselves to quarantine, worried over contracting COVID-19, Syrian refugees are being forcibly evicted from their tents and houses. 

A large proportion of Syrians cannot afford to pay rent, neither for houses, nor the lands on which they have set up their tents, especially since many property owners have raised rents exponentially. Furthermore, rents must be exclusively paid in dollars nowadays, given the worsening economic downturn, crashing exchange rates of the Lebanese pound, spiking prices, and mounting rates of poverty and unemployment in Lebanon. 

Syrian refugees’ unemployment rates since mid-March 2020:

61% of women refugees

46% of men refugees

7% of the families are forcing children to work, after parents lost their jobs  

Source: UNHCR – Lebanon 

On June 19, a resident of the al-Massri camp live-streamed the forced evacuation of the camp’s population. The tents were dismantled, but the matter still went unaddressed by any official entities. The landlord denied media outlets and organizations access into the camp to assess the situation or even negotiate the possibility of allowing the people to stay in their sole shelter during these most challenging times while the country is in pandemic mode. 

Due to restrictive Lebanese residency policies, only 22% of an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon have the legal right to live in the country, leaving the vast majority to live under the radar, subject to arbitrary arrest, detention, and harassment. Their lack of legal status means they cannot move freely through the ubiquitous checkpoints that predate COVID19, have difficulty getting services such as health care or education, and find it difficult to register births, deaths, and marriages, Human Rights Watch stated in a report published last April. 

Post-eviction journey

Forcibly evicted from the al-Massri camp, only a few families managed to rent a garage or a small room in a nearby place. Others, however, sought their neighbours or moved to different camps, intending to live with relatives while searching for a place to shelter them. 

Tracking the movement of several families, seven ended up in two hangars, barns, within a 10-minute walk from the al-Massri camp. 

“The barns were still full of trash and livestock waste when we moved in. We rented them for 600,000 Lebanese pounds (US$100), which we divide among us. You can see it for yourself, we are cleaning the place of garbage and dirt. But still, it is not a place to live in,” one refugee said, standing in front of his new place of residence. 

The two barns, where 29 people, including 13 children, live today, have tin roofs, dilapidated, cracked and full of holes. The walls are either destroyed or about to collapse, threatening to crush the people living within them. The place is thus accessible to rats and snakes, while at the same time poorly ventilated and lacking in proper hygiene. The barns are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.  

 “What coerced us to move here [the barn] is that we cannot afford renting a cheap house. At the same time, we cannot set up a new tent due to state laws. So, we decided to use the tent’s canvas and wood to renovate the hangar. We also dismantled the bricks that made the tent’s bathroom and brought them here with us. We reassembled the bricks and patched up the holes in the hangar,” Abu Basil, a Syrian refugee evicted from the Saadnayel  camp, said.  

Abu Basil’s family does not only consist of eight people, but  one of his daughters is also extremely suffering, yet traumatized over her brother’s loss, who died in a car accident when they first sought refuge in Lebanon, seven years ago. 

Furthermore, his suckling granddaughter has been lately diagnosed as having a chronic disease, brain atrophy, and is in need of treatment and sustained healthcare. It is an abject situation that we are in, Abu Basil said, adding that aid and support are necessary. 

In one corner, two birds are kept in a cage, which they also moved to their new residence. Looking at the birds, the family says: “The reason we are keeping them is that we are caged ourselves.”  

23 forced eviction cases were recorded between mid-March and mid-July, all as a result of the refugees’ inability to pay rent for the house or land.

Source: Access Center for Human Rights (ACHR)

Living in non-viable places

Lying in the open air, being the remains of the place it once was, each of the holes in the hanger begs rain and the scorching heat during summer in, inviting also all types of insects and harmful creatures. The place is vast and high-roofed. The residents used the tents’ wood to create partitions. They divided it into smaller areas, craving order and privacy. However, it is impossible to spend winter in that place, for it is particularly hard to keep it warm.   

The families recount their stories, how they escaped death and sought refuge in Lebanon, scared for their lives of the Syrian regime, how they were arrested and their houses destroyed by air raids. They also recount the story of their forced eviction from the camp, keeping the landlord’s name a secret afraid of persecution and harm as they continue to live in the town.  

In fact, these families are scared of going back to Syria. Yet, their living conditions in Lebanon can barely be called safe. 

According to Abu Basil, he and his family were evicted due to the decision providing for dismantling and flattening the camp. The dismantlement of several tents and shelters every now and then grew into a familiar occurrence in different areas, seeking to prevent refugees from settling down there. One reason for demolishing the camp is that many families were two months late on paying the tents’ rent due to the lockdown and their inability to work under the state-imposed COVID-19 mitigation policies. 

A number of the forcibly evicted camp people stressed that the proposed justifications are only a hoax. The real thing, they said, is that the landlord decided to turn the land on which the camp was constructed into a horse barn. 

No matter what the actual reasons are, the reality is that the life of this family and many others has become unbearably difficult. They today live in an unviable place, even after they themselves cleaned it and turned it with their own money from a barn into their living place. 

One resident said that the UNHCR and other international partner organizations have visited the barn and assessed the refugees’ living conditions in their new shelter. They filmed the place and said they were sorry. They also apologized for their inability to provide any aid, “one organization helps camp residents exclusively. The other helps renovate houses, not farms.”

In the barn, the refugees contemplate their near future. Summer is ending and winter is around the corner. But still, the place is absolutely inhabitable. 

“It is harsher than COVID-19, which affects people everywhere. In the case of the virus, measures can be kept to prevent contracting it; medicines can be taken to help boost the immune system and recovery. But we are helpless, nothing can help us get a shelter,” one refugee described their situation as a group.   

In the al-Hindi camp in Bar Elias, another group of Syrian refugees is enduring the same suffering. They were asked to evacuate the camp, and a deadline was already set, while they have no other place to seek given the lockdown. 

Even though his family consists of nine people, Abdulkarim, the father, cannot send his children to work, for they do not have identity documents. To make a living, he thus attempts to find informal jobs, such as gardening, or working on farms during harvest seasons.  

“We were managing. We are now holding to patience because we have only till early September to evacuate the tent. Yesterday, [the landlord] saw me at the tent’s door and threatened me. ‘If you do not leave in a week, your stuff will end up on the street,’” Abdulkarim, a Syrian refugee, recounted his story and spoke of the circumstances pressing him to evacuate the al-Hindi Camp. 

The refugees’ living conditions turned severe when the landlord decided to raise the rent on the land where the tents are set up for a number of refugees. To his misfortune, Abdulkarim was among the refugees notified of the need to pay the additional rent money.  

The landlord is whimsical, Abdulkarim said.  He has relatives neither in the camp nor in the area, unlike several other families who make up a network of relatives there, preventing the landlord from pressing them into paying further money in rent, which he finally kept as it is. He asked Abdulkarim and numerous other families to pay 300,000 Lebanese pounds (US$), or otherwise leave. 

“What coerced us to move here [the barn] is that we cannot afford renting a cheap house. At the same time, we cannot set up a new tent due to state laws. So, we decided to use the tent’s canvas and wood to renovate the hangar. We also dismantled the bricks that made the tent’s bathroom and brought them here with us. We reassembled the bricks and patched up the holes in the hangar,” 

Abu Basil, a Syrian refugee who lives along with his family in a hangar near the al-Massri camp in al-Bekaa, Lebanon. 

Affected by Lebanese pound’s turmoil

Over twenty refugee families across al-Bekaa were interviewed, they were all equally distressed due to the dire living conditions in Lebanon, a situation that has been thus for months. 

They are basically grappling with mounting prices and the Lebanese pound turmoil, which has been begging to the dollar, for it takes between 6000 and 8000 Pounds to buy a dollar, while the official bank exchange rate is 1500 pounds. 

This spiralling reality increased the refugees’ inability to pay the rent for their homes, since many have turned unemployed with the spread of COVID-19 in Lebanon. To cope with their tightening finances, a group of Syrians is borrowing money to pay the rent, others are reducing their food consumption. 

Intissar (41), a Syrian woman, shared the same house with 11 members of her family, including her father, a pneumonia patient, her mother, who suffers from chronic diseases, her widowed sister, along with her children, her brother, his wife and their children.

Intissar’s family rented the house seven months before they were expelled from it. When COVID-19 hit Lebanon in March, Intissar’s volunteer work in an educational organization stopped, so did her monthly grant of 300,000 Lebanese pounds (less than US$50). Worse yet, digging wells, her brother’s work, also stopped due to the imposed curfew.

“We could not pay the rent for three months in a row, which prompted the women owning the house to evict us in June. We turned homeless at the most critical time. A few days before we left the house, we borrowed money and paid her all the dues, but she unscrew the taps, vandalized the house and filmed it. She then went to the police station, and filed a complaint against my father,” Intissar said. 

“On top of everything, and as if it was not enough that she expelled us from the house during the pandemic, she also demanded $100 as a compensation for the damage she did herself,” Intissar added, yelling. 

UNHCR’s role

A segment of Syrian refugees blames the United Nations High Commissioner for the deteriorating living conditions, especially when it denied a large proportion of refugees the aid it provided them, who could no longer afford food and drink, not to mention the rent, given that dozens of Syrians turned unemployed.

According to human rights reports, a large number of Syrian refugees lost their jobs. As a result, their living, economic, social and psychological conditions declined further, since most of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon depend on seasonal or day labour which either stopped completely or became rare. The lacking job opportunities, however, ensued the pandemic, which coincided with the country’s economic slump. Therefore, the refugees’ conditions under COVID-19 cannot be assessed in isolation from the existing economic crisis.

In a report, Access Centre for Human Rights (ACHR), a Syrian human rights organization that documents and monitors Lebanon-based Syrian refugees’ conditions, recorded over 23 cases of forced evictions and/or the threat of forced evictions between mid-May and mid-July 2020, all as a result of the refugees’ inability to pay rent for the house or land (in the case of those living in the camps). 

Cases of eviction and/or threat of eviction were not limited to individual cases, for others occurred on the camp level. Several Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon have been threatened with eviction, and a few families were indeed expelled from them. Furthermore, the ACHR recorded two cases of camp evictions, and other three cases of camps threatened with eviction. 

As of mid-March, a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Lebanon found that 61% of Syrian refugee women and 46% of Syrian refugee men have lost their jobs, whereas 7% of the Syrian families are sending their children to work, after their parents turned unemployed. 

Due to a lack of money and rising food prices, the report added, refugees face difficulties buying their basic necessities. Till May 18, 75% of refugees went further into debt to pay for basic necessities, and 78% of families consulted reported difficulties buying food. 

 “Having lost their jobs, while goods prices soared insanely, the refugees have hit the low of almost no daily income — that is they cannot pay the rent for the house or the land on which the tent is set up. This increases the cases of both individual and mass eviction or threats of eviction of refugees from their residence places, whether in the camps or concrete homes, despite the COVID-19 outbreak and the urge to sustain quarantine,” an al-Bekaa-based Syrian human rights activist said, describing the living conditions of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

The Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ)

The post Sleeping in the Open Air, or in a Barn: Syrian Refugees Left Homeless in Lebanon  appeared first on SIRAJ.

“We better die from the virus, if it spreads to the camps, than starve to death, since it is particularly difficult to obtain detergents in the camp,” the mother said, weary of the long arduous day on the farm.  

With the money she and her daughters earn, she gets to buy as much vegetables and crops as possible. These, she then turns into food storage for winter. 

Displaced from the al-Ghab Plain, the family today lives in the al-Safsafe Camp, near Salqin city. As COVID-19 prevailed, Rama’s brothers, like the rest of the camp men, yielded to unemployment after they lost their jobs in construction. 

With the significant spread of the virus, the camps’ people had to grapple with major challenges, most importantly their severely affected jobs. Furthermore, they are toiling to make a living, considering their long stay at the camps, lacking job opportunities and humanitarian aid, which before amounted to food shares and a few healthcare services at best, provided by organizations and civil society associations, the camp’s residents said. 

It is dangerous and horrifying, a number of despondent displaced persons at the camps in north Syria said, describing their life there. 

“We almost have no food. The aid we get every now and then is insufficient. We are not even getting enough water, drinkable or for household uses,” said Hind Malaki (33 years), a woman displaced from Mount Zawiya to rural Idlib with her three-member family. “My husband was a day labourer, and we struggled only to get bread. Our life in the camp has grown worse than ever.”

The larger proportion of the camps’ residents are displaced from areas in Hama, Aleppo and Idlib, fleeing the military operations launched by the regime and Russian forces. They, thus, sought refuge in less hostile areas, which incubate over two million civilians, the Syria Response Coordinators Group (SRCG) said, adding that IDPs live in 1277 camps, 366 of which are informal. 

Shortfall in Humanitarian Response within Camps under COVID-19:

Livelihoods and food security sector 49%

Water and sanitation sector  66%

Healthcare and nutrition sector 79%

Non-food items sector 54%

Shelter and housing sector 54%

Education sector 74%

Protection sector 70%

– Source: Director of the Syria Response Coordinators Group

In a statement, the Syrian Civil Defense, a volunteer civil defense organization that helps people affected by the war in Syria, said that the viral outbreak is haunting over four million Syrian IDPs in Idlib province and western rural Aleppo, as well as those in the camps spreading along the Turkish border strip, particularly day labourers, who are stuck in a state of anticipation and are obsessed with the pandemic and infection.  

Furthermore, people’s suffering has hit new extremes, for over a million persons live in camps that lack life essentials, according to statistics reported by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).

“In the camps, people struggle to earn themselves a single day’s living, particularly with the widespread virus, which cost a large proportion of people their source of income,” Dima al-Hak, a member of Idlib Province Municipality, said.  

Even though a COVID-19 outbreak in the Syrian displacement camps in rural Idlib and Aleppo will be a disaster, to apply social distancing inside the tents is out of question. However, many people are not scared of the pandemic, as much as they are concerned for their lives and safety. 

As the Syrian pound’s value crashed before the dollar, reaching an exchange rate of about 2500 Syrian pounds per dollar in July 2020, according to one currency conversion website, most of the markets were closed down, while prices spiked. Consequently, complaints increased among workers in camps and north Syria, who are tormented by economic and living crises alike.  

“My two daughters and I are coerced to work in the fields, getting 500 Syrian pounds each. We are trying to earn our bread money, after my husband and son lost their jobs at the olive factories due to the COVID-19 spread, which devastated our lives to the roots. Both my husband and son had jobs, and our finances were acceptable. However, after they stopped working, we had to work for a low wage that does not exceed 500 Syrian pounds. If the virus continues hitting us hard, we might even consent to work in return for 100 Syrian pounds a day,” Rama’s mother said, who is forty-something. 

On the same regard, a Humanitarian Situation Overview in northwest Syria, conducted by REACH Initiative in September 2019, scanning 1051 local communities, villages and towns in north Syria, stated that the majority of the Syrian families’ monthly income amounts to a staggering 50,000 Syrian pounds (about 25 dollars), while the income of 941 of the target communities does not suffice to cover the family’s food-related needs. 

To make do, the overview further reported, 80% of the families borrow money, 56% send their children to work, 22% reduce the size of  meals, 11% skip meals, and 10% offer their household assets for sale. 

Yousef Osman, a Syrian young man and a day labourer who sells vegetables in the city of Idlib, shares the demands of other workers: “We need some entities’ support to help us through these wretched conditions, caused by the spread of the virus and death.”

A report, published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 13 July, stated that the COVID-19 impact was added to the repercussions of repeated displacement, persistent security threats, and instability due to local currency depreciation. These concerns boosted the burdens of the area’s population, amounting to 4.1 million persons, 2.8 of whom primarily depend on relief aid to live.    

The listed factors, the report claimed, induced a rise in the food parcel’s cost by 68% over a single month, thus threatening to push the rest of the area’s population below the poverty line, who would not be capable of affording their needs unaided.  

Concerns and challenges

Muhammad Da’boul (12 years) lives with his family in an informal camp in Atme, rural Idlib in north Syria. The family is extremely concerned over the precautionary measures adopted by the local authorities in Idlib province. 

As a wage earner, Muhammad used to make a daily 1000 Syrian pounds, with which his five-member family managed to get along. “I would shuck corn husks every day, boil them and then sell them in the camp. However, with the COVID-19 outbreak, people are no longer willing to buy. My customers went missing, for people are afraid of contracting the virus from vendors,” Muhammad said, his face overcome by confusion. 

An estimated 83% of Syrians are below the poverty line, according to the United Nations (UN) 2019 annual report, which assesses major humanitarian needs in Syria. 

Muhammad is one among thousands of Syrians who are now in desperate  need of assistance amidst  the rising prices of commodities in the market and the spiralling COVID-19 crisis. 

Local councils in Idlib, responding to the first positive COVID-19 case announced on 9 July 2020, made several statements, providing for banning weekly bazaars in al-Dana, Binish, al-Fu’a and Atme areas “until further notice”, seeking to prevent civilians from gathering. Nevertheless, the area, where three-quarters of the population are on relief aid, is now facing a reality no less threatening than the virus itself. 

Major Sources of Income in North Syria

Borrow money from family/friends 80%

 Reduce meal size 56%

 Children sent to work 22%

 Skip meals 11%

Sell household assets 10%

 

– Source: Humanitarian Situation Overview in Northwest Syria

– REACH Initiative / September 2019

Day labourers left to their own devices

Five months ago, Fatima Muhammad spent long hours behind a sewing machine in her tent in rural Idlib. That was her job for about three years, which she said made her the most happy. 

Sewing was Fatima’s source of income, but she is devoid of all resources today, as she cannot continue working. “I am a tailor. I made a living for the family; we asked no one for help. However, due to COVID-19, less customers are showing up. I am no longer capable of affording my needs or sewing tools and materials, such as needles and threads. I am also a heart and hypertension patient. The doctors have cautioned me against seeking another job,” Fatima said.  

Relating to sources of income, the Humanitarian Situation Overview in northwest Syria indicated that 85% of the people do not have stable jobs, depending thus on day labour, 84% work on the farms they own, 60% work in business and trade, 14% depend on remittances from outside Syria, and only 13% count on stable salaried labour. 

“In the camps, displaced workers, whose main source of income is day labour, are facing a living catastrophe today. Those, however, who work in workshops might be severely affected in two months, if the crisis inflates further,” lawyer Youssef Qadour said, who works with a local team to document violations against the rights of workers in north Syria. 

For her part, Dr. Dulama, SRCG director in northwest Syria, listed the key professions in the camps in north Syria: “The majority of the people are day labourers. Others, however, are either tailors or barbers, or work in sell-buy businesses.”   

Reporting on the purchase power index in Syria, Numbeo stated that it hit extremely low, scoring only 9.30 points out of a hundred.    

Further, the investigative unit interviewed a number of displaced day labourers, who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 outbreak. They addressed the measures adopted in response and the ensuing repercussions, which aggravated unemployment and poverty rates among IDPs, who were already enduring dire humanitarian conditions before the outbreak and its consequences, which had a catastrophic negative impact on the camps, particularly. 

Residents of IDP camps in north Syria face challenging living conditions, in the absence of minimum resources and services, including water, electricity, sanitation and housing, according to the SRCG.

Eight families in the camps, selected randomly by the investigative unit, reported that despite losing their jobs, no organizations came forward to help day labourers, covering neither of their needs, especially ones related to relief and healthcare.   

 In the camps, key professions are farming, sewing, vending, building, shop keeping, transporting people,  hairdressing or selling commodities on stalls.

Dreading haunger

Under the COVID-19 crisis, the IDPs challenging condition effected a great shortfall in the humanitarian response within the camps, which amounted to 49% in livelihoods and food security sector, 66% in  water and sanitation sector, 79% in healthcare and nutrition sector, 54% in non-food items sector, 54% in  shelter and housing sector (providing tents to informal camps), 74% in education sector, and 70% in the protection sector, the SRCG reported. 

Over 5000 persons live in the al-Safsafe Camp in rural Idlib, north Syria, most of whom sought the camp in batches coming from al-Ghab Plain in 2013. They know no other profession but farming, given the nature of the area they fled.  

“Before the COVID-19 outbreak, over 40% of the camp’s residents had day jobs at olive and canned food factories. Their daily wages, however, did not exceed a 1000 Syrian pounds, which was acceptable and sufficient to support the family, for all the members worked in these factors. As the virus started spreading, the factories were shut down,  boosting unemployment and poverty rates in the camp, which already lacked healthcare and food aid,” the camp manager Wael al-Jasim said, describing the suffering endured by the day labourers. 

Mostly covered in blue tarpaulin, several informal camps rest between fields and hills, such as those in western rural Idlib, near the Syria-Turkey border in Jisr al-Shughur area. 

Set up in 2014, these camps shelter families that fled from rural Latakia and western rural Idlib. They all live in low-quality dwellings that turn into swamps in winter, while unbearable during the scorching summer.   

“We live in this tent, the eight of us,” Ahmad al-Barhou said, a thirty-something man, who lives with his family, while also taking care of his sister and her children. 

He pauses, and then adds: “My sister lost her husband during a Syrian regime air raid on our town in the Turkmen Mountain, rural Latakia. I made a living for my family, my sister and her children. I had a modest vegetables stall. My work stopped due to the coronavirus outbreak and the people’s inability to purchase as the Syrian pound crashed.”

Addressing purchase power, several financial overviews indicated that the living costs of a five-member-family is 300,000 Syrian pounds, or 200 to 250 dollars. Nevertheless, these figures are eight to 10 times less than the actual costs. 

Delivery

Before the outbreak, the camps’ people suffered from long-term unemployment, lacking money and job opportunities. But still, many of them are trying to forge themselves a chance and make a living to improve their life. 

To earn his living, Ghadeer al-Hamwi (29 years) transported passengers and delivered commodities aboard his motorcycle in the Atme Camp on the Syria-Turkey border. However, there are no errands to run these days. 

Standing next to his motorcycle, Ghadeer said: “I transported customers between the camps and to marketplaces for a bit of money, aboard my motorcycle that consumes little oil. The transportation fee is also less compared to cars. So, I had many customers before COVID-19. With the restrictions, preventative measures, and the distancing rules, as well as the rising concerns which accompanied the virus, the people stopped seeking my services. I ended up jobless.”

On 28 July, the Idlib Healthcare Directorate reported new cases, which brings the total case number to 29 in the area. 

The new confirmed case is in Idlib city, the directorate stated, while larger case numbers are in the two cities of Sarmada and Sarmin in rural Idlib, as well as near the camps in Azaz city, rural Aleppo.  

“Inside Syria, over 11 million people need humanitarian assistance, of whom over four millions are children,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, said in early March. 

In north Syria, Ghadeer and fellow day labourers wait for the COVID-19 crisis to end, to resume their jobs after a two-month interruption. 

Ghadeer, who by now sat on the ground near his motorcycle inside the camp, stressed that the condition of his family, consisting of four children, is tragic, while he is unable to meet their needs, or even make a living. “Work has stopped. Unfortunately, we are offered no assistance or food aid. A disaster is looming, a lot more dangerous than the virus. It is starvation,” he said.

The Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ)

The post “We Fear Hunger, Not Coronavirus”: The Syrian Camps’ Tragedy  appeared first on SIRAJ.

The two Syrian women did not know that the virus will expose them and their unborn babies to new dangers.

Fatima lives with her family in Rokban Syrian refugees’ camp, in the south east of Syria, an area that was secluded from the world when the camp was established six years ago, locked up between the Jordanian borders, an American military base, and Russian “humanitarian” crossings.

Fatima had no idea where she could give birth to her baby, after the Jordanian authorities closed the sole medical facility inside Jordan’s borders, as one of the measures for fighting Coronavirus.

Simultaneously, Ro’aa was afraid that her baby might need a ventilator, not available in Idlib, while the Turkish authorities have suspended receiving “medical emergency cases” from Syria, also in context of Coronavirus preventive measures.

This happens while the lockdown measures have exacerbated the already tragic situation of Syrian pregnant women in camps, with insufficient basic healthcare.

Coronavirus has weighed heavily on pregnant women throughout Syrian areas, especially the most fragile in terms of healthcare and food availability, in refugees’ camps inside Syria. Hence the idea to investigate and shed light on this situation.

According to a physician in the city of Hassaka, the most dangerous impact of the virus in the case of a pregnant woman is due to that she already suffers shortness of breath, during pregnancy, thus being infected with the virus endangers her body further, causing her to have less immunity compared to non-pregnant women. This problem is exacerbated by the difficult access to hospitals.

Throughout the recent years, the role of the medical facility on Jordan’s borders was to transfer critical cases from Rokban camp, including pregnant women who need c-section operations or healthcare, to the hospitals in Jordan. This was also the case with newborns in need of NICUs, phototherapy for jaundice or ventilators.

On the other side of the country, pregnant women in northern Syria continue to fear for their newborns’ lives in case they needed medical care, while it is difficult to transfer such cases to Turkey in the time of the virus.

“Where will I give birth?”

“Where will I give birth?” Fatima, pregnant in her seventh month, and living in Rokban camp, keeps asking. “Following the suffering of women during delivery is harder than experiencing the danger itself. I see my destiny in these women who need c-sections and have nowhere to give birth.”

“I fear any scenario in which I need a c-section or my newborn needs healthcare, or an NICU,” she adds, “In such cases either me or my newborn will die.”

Fatima, who hails from Homs province, suffers from lack of basic food. She does not eat fruit, and she gets no medicine, vitamins, or food supplements, while the follow-up of her pregnancy is provided in the “Tadmor medical post” inside the camp, which lacks the requirements of basic medical care.

During her last doctor’s visit, before Coronavirus lockdown was imposed, Narmeen was told she has anemia, and her baby suffered from malnutrition. He prescribed some medicine for her, but she could not afford to buy them

We obtained photos of Tadmor medical post, which is built of mud with few rooms, containing worn out furniture thrown on the floor, besides some first aid kits. It is obvious that the post is not fit for any medical procedures. Medicine is scarce and delivered through smuggling while not enough for pregnant women needs.

On April 11th, the “Public and Political Relations Authority in the Syrian Desert,” made a call for help to the government of the United States of America via the military base in Tanaf, after the siege of the camp was tightened.

The authority spoke, in a statement, of the food and health crises due to the UNICEF post having been shut down, and the Syrian regime siege of the camp. “The people of the camp face a health crisis, as several pregnant women need c-sections, with no means to provide any, because of closing the camps, and the inability of pregnant women to go to the territory of regime forces, for security reasons, fearing detention” said the authority concerning the pregnant women.

The authority requested from the US immediate aid through the Global Coalition forces in area 55, and to save the lives of mothers and their children.

Giving birth in the military base

Last April, two Syrian women had to go to the American military base in Tanaf to have c-sections, it was the only option they had.

According to what the British newspaper The Times, the officer physician in charge in the base was not specialized in delivery, and knew little about it, but he carried out the c-sections. He was helped by a colleague monitoring the operation throw video conference from the US.

On his side, Shokri Shehab, the manager of Tadmor medical post, which is under the authority of the Council of Tadmor and Syrian Desert Clans, has pointed out that two experienced midwives from the camp accompanied the two women in the military base during the c-sections.

“There are 30 to 40 deliveries in the camp monthly,” Shehab says, “we used to refer them to the UNICEF post, which in turn transferred the women to Jordan’s hospitals.”

The UNICEF post used to follow-up pregnancies, and provide pregnant women with medicine and food supplements, in addition to transferring newborns in need of NICUs and phototherapy to hospitals in Jordan, while natural deliveries and caring for pregnant women were carried out in Tadmor medical post inside the camp and under the supervision of the only two midwives there.

In his turn, Shehab emphasizes that Tadmor post is not ideal, but it is the only one available under the current conditions, pointing out the damage inflicted on pregnant women after the closure of the UNICEF post, especially that there is not a single physician in the camp housing 11,000 civilians.

“Even if the UNICEF post is reopened,” he continues “its working hours used to be from 9:00 AM till 3:00 PM, and no emergency cases were admitted out of these hours.”

Concerning the camp’s needs when it comes to pregnant women and newborns, Shehab explains that there is an urgent need for oxygen devices in the least, for reviving newborns who are short breathed, so as not to consider their death inevitable.

Like the medical siege the camp faces a total siege as entry of relief aids is totally forbidden, thus depriving civilians in the camp from vegetables, fruits, and basic foods besides wheat and flour, which are smuggled into the camp. Accordingly, pregnant women do not have enough nourishment, which increases the probability of their newborns needing NICUS.

Jordan’s response was quite clear concerning the reopening of the border’s UNICEF post. As per Ayman Al- Safadi, the Jordanian minster of foreign affairs, his country will not allow any relief aid into the camp through its territories, nor will it allow the entry of any person form the camp to Jordan’s territory.

“Protecting citizens from the Coronavirus pandemic is an extreme priority for Jordan.” Said Al-Safadi in a phone call with the UN special envoy to Syria, emphasizing that the responsibility of Rokban’s camp is both Syrian and international, as it houses Syrian citizens on Syrian lands.

He also explained that any humanitarian or medical aids needed by the camp can enter through Syrian inlands, emphasizing the necessity of international cooperation for obtaining a political resolution in Syria.

Newborns in danger

In Northern Syria, under opposition control, there are other kinds of fears. It is true that the hospitals and doctors there are capable of carrying out c-sections and natural deliveries, but in case of any health emergency for the mother or the baby, or the last being in need for NICU, everybody becomes helpless in face of the inevitable end.

Previously, newborns in need of NICUs, phototherapy or any other healthcare measures unavailable in northern Syria, used to be transferred to Turkey through land border crossings which are Grables, Bab Alhawa, and Bab Assalama.

As Jordan and Turkey close their borders to all travel, pregnant Syrian women needing C-Sections find themselves helpless and at risk. Documenting stories from pregnant Syrian women besieged by Coronavirus

Turkish authorities have recorded the first Coronavirus case last March 11th. After two days only, the Turkish authorities closed Bab Alhawa crossing in the face of civilians, while admitting only commercial and aid trucks, in addition to first aid emergency cases, as per a statement by the crossing officials.

After six days, the Turkish authorities closed both Bab Assalama and Alraie crossings, completely, while allowing the entry of medical emergency cases.

This however did not last, on March 26th, Turkey stopped the entry of medical cases as well, including the newborns who need NICUs or ventilators.

“The Turkish side stopped receiving medical first aid cases,” said PR official in Bab Alhawa crossing, Mazen Allosh, “causing a health care crisis in northern Syria.”

According to data on Bab Alhawa crossing’s website, more than 10,000 patients have entered Turkey through this crossing alone in 2019, coming from the Syrian north, and including 3942 first aid cases, with newborns and mothers among them.

In the first three months of the year, about 900 first aid cases have entered Turkey through the same crossing, aside from other crossings that admitted patients.

Vulnerability of medical infrastructure

Doctor Nazieh Alghawi points out the absence of statistics of the number of NICUs or ventilators inside Syria, explaining that there is “extreme and dire shortage” of these devices, according to his own follow-up of NICUs issue through “coordination rooms of the Syrian north doctors,” while the demand for these devices escalates due to the increasing number of newborns needing them.

Alghawi adds that babies born after 28 weeks of pregnancy are considered premature, such babies need NICUs to keep them worm and pulse and oxidation monitoring devices, besides ventilators and in sleep short breath monitoring.

He adds that newborns in need of NICUs are those whose medical conditions are not good due to having blue skin color, premature moaning, difficulties of breathing, rib suctions, or incomplete growth inside the womb.

Phototherapy, is needed if the newborn has an extreme case of jaundice, as failing to treat such newborn might lead to brain paralysis or atrophy.

The same doctor has emphasized the crossing closure “catastrophic impact” on pregnant women and newborns in northern Syria, pointing out that the closure was comprehensive leaving no exceptions even for medical aid cases, in time when the number of newborns who need to be immediately transferred to Turkey is increasing.

The doctor has also explained the medical conditions of newborns in northern Syria in time of Coronavirus, “the region began to be short on medicines, depriving patient from obtaining them for free. We also need beds, operation rooms, and intensive care units, both for newborns and adults.” He said.

One of the problems caused by the Coronavirus crisis, is malnutrition of pregnant women and newborns, and lack of food supplements which impact newborns’ health.

On her side, doctor Nagwan, head of pediatric division in motherhood hospital, warned that “continuing closure of the crossings will increase mortality rates of those who could have been saved in Turkey. It will also exacerbate the shortage of supplies in Syrian hospitals.”

Pregnant women in camps: Coronavirus exacerbated our tragedy!

Roba Al’ali, a Syrian woman living in Tell Al’aawar for refugees in Idlib countryside, spoke of her suffering as a pregnant woman inside the camp in the time of the Coronavirus.

“I have so many fears,” she says, “there are no places to sit or sleep comfortably inside the tent. I cannot get physical comfort during pregnancy. I also have no private space or clean and safe WCs.” Explaining that it would be catastrophic in case of the virus spread to the area.

Roba has also spoke of the absence of hospitals, thus most cases must be transferred outside the camp. She complained that while the pregnant woman and her newborn have vulnerable immunity, those in camps have even more vulnerable immunity due to lack of suitable food and the weak disease preventive measures.

On the other side, Sarah Ahmed, who lives in Frekeh camp in Idlib says: “we live under hard conditions in the camp. During my pregnancy, I have not had suitable food that pregnant women usually have, due to my husband being out of work and having no income, after the spread of Coronavirus.”

Sarah speaks of being afraid of the virus every time she has high temperature or short breath. She fears that her baby might catch the virus. Such fears affect the pregnant woman as well as her baby’s health, as the specialist doctor, Ro’aa Abbas points out.

Because of her husband being out of work, Sarah will not be able to give birth in a hospital that provides suitable services. She will give birth in one of the public hospitals, as she mentions. Such hospitals are far from the camp, which puts her in great physical dangers during moving in and out of the camp.

“I have not given birth yet,” she adds “but I have watched women giving birth inside the camp, and their suffering of diseases due to the living conditions unsuitable for a mother and her newborn.”

About Coronavirus and her pregnancy, Sarah says: “The hardest thing is the absence of isolations centers or a quarantine inside the camp. The population is large, making the tent unsafe during the pandemic time, which causes me to be worried all the time.”

On her side, Shaza Almostafa, a licensed midwife, says: “since the fears of the Coronavirus spread has started, many healthcare centers were closed, which negatively impacted the pregnant women. Two weeks ago, however, and till now, some centers reopened their doors, and pregnant women are coming back to them for healthcare.” She explains that she does not know the reason behind civilians losing their fears, though the danger of the virus still exists.

Almostafa points out that a newborn, also needs vaccines, but these were not available since the beginning of the Coronavirus time in northern Syria. They are gradually becoming available, now. Almostafa explains that in the fears period climax, pregnant women were not able to enter hospitals and medical centers except for extreme emergencies and under sterilization measures. Many pregnant and lactating women, going to hospital periodically for healthcare and free medicines, were deprived of this due to the closure of most centers.

Fear, then fear

In northeast Syria, under “self-administration,” there has been no siege by any party, but this did not reflect positively on pregnant women.

On March 23rd, the administration enforced a curfew throughout its territories, to prevent the spread of the virus.

Due to the continuous fears of infection, Mona was forced into having a c-section during the pandemic, thus staying under treatment for a whole month after delivery.

“During my pregnancy, I did not know if hospitals would admit me or not,” says Mona “I kept asking my doctor to come to the hospital to follow-up my pregnancy, but she refused to come unless there was an emergency delivery.”

When Mona felt the time for delivery approaching, it was 4:00 AM in the morning, she tried to postpone going to the hospital, fearing infection by the virus, which led to her being forced to have a c-section. Her doctor told her that natural delivery would harm the baby.

A week after giving birth, Mona was not feeling well. The surgery’s pain and postnatal problems continued. She called her doctor, but her number was out of coverage and her clinic was naturally closed because of the curfew. When Mona’s condition got worse, she was transferred to Faraman hospital in Qameshli town in Hasaka governorate.

In the hospital, the doctor carried out an examination that revealed her need for a womb cleaning, as her wound was infected. She got several medicines, but after three days she did not get better. She called her doctor again, asking her to come back to the hospital regardless the fears of the virus infection. It turned out that the wound infections are getting worse, and Mona is still under treatment after 16 days of delivery.

Mona explains that if not for the lockdown, she would have been able to have her pregnancy followed-up properly avoiding all these problems.

Pregnant women malnutrition

Last delivery for Wi’am (pseudo name), who lives in Ras Al’ain, was ten years ago. She has three children, who were all born through c-sections, but she did not know that when she got pregnant once again, she will go through all these hardships.

During her pregnancy, Wi’am had to move to Ras Al’ain town. Her husband lost his job as a cap driver on the beginning of the Coronavirus crisis, in parallel with a devaluation of Syrian lira, and rising prices of all commodities and goods in Syria, which deprived her of the most basic food needs, leading eventually to her newborn suffering lack of oxygen.

“I was scared in the hospital,” Wi’am says, “I could not touch anything. Nobody came to visit me because of the lockdown measures and the fear of the virus.”

She adds that after giving birth, she had to drink large quantities of tea, with bread, though her body needed better food, because the shops were closed.

With her delivery approaching, Narmeen (false name) also worries about the after giving birth expenses, because her husband lost his job.

“I think of babies’ milk, and diapers whose prices are becoming extremely high,” Narmeen says, “I will need babies’ milk because I have anemia which makes me unable to breast feed my baby.”

She adds: “My husband lost his job, which affected my condition as a pregnant woman. I did not have fruit for a long time, and I do not get the healthcare essential for pregnant women because of their high high price.”

In her last visit to her doctor, before lockdown was imposed, Narmeen was told she has anemia, and her baby suffered from malnutrition. He prescribed some medicines for her, but she could not afford to buy them.

Doctor Manal Mohamed, the co-director of health authority in Syrian Jazeera, points out that “the virus cannot penetrate the placenta; thus, it cannot affect the baby in mother’s womb.”

He explains that in the hospitals of “self-administration” territories, some operation rooms were set aside for natural delivery and c-sections during the time of the Coronavirus pandemic. But this is not true for all areas. Some villages have no medical centers specialized in delivery and pregnancy follow-up.

On her side, Marwa Abbas, an Obstetrician and Gynecologist, reveals that the clinics are closed throughout the curfew time. She follows-up pregnancies on phone and through internet social media applications, which deprives the pregnant woman of being monitored using the echo device.

She explains that the baby gets its nourishment from its mother’s body once it is attached to the womb, so the mother needs focus and organization of feeding, which most of the pregnant women were denied during to Coronavirus time, along with access to hospitals.

She adds that the virus is more dangerous for pregnant women compared to others as pregnancy jeopardizes their immunity, which shows in fatigue and nausea suffered by pregnant women because of low immunity.

The Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ)

The post “Where Will I Give Birth?” Documenting Stories of Syrian Women Besieged by Coronavirus appeared first on SIRAJ.