Throughout the region, there are 1,000 camps, accommodated by medical centers that have 1,689 inpatient bed capacity — that is one bed per 2,378 people. There are also 243 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds, each to accommodate 16,534 people, 107 ventilators, each to serve 3,7549 people, and 32 isolation units, where each unit is dedicated to 125,554 people.  

The first confirmed case was announced as of a Syrian doctor, who constantly travels from/to Syria and Turkey by virtue of his work. However, the puzzle pieces were not all in place as to ascertain whether the doctor’s was in fact the first positive case, or that north Syria did actually record, but not announce, cases before him. Equally uncertain is whether that case had carried the virus from Turkey or had contracted it in Syria.   

Therefore, this investigation seeks to track COVID-19’s infiltration into north Syria and the ensuing confirmed cases. The investigation’s scope, nevertheless, is not limited to monitoring the movement of people through border crossings with Turkey, but it also reports the daily two- way traffic of Turkish employees, who travel to areas in north Syria, and people who might have carried the virus from other Syrian areas into the target region, that is north Syria.  Furthermore, the investigation reports that the measures adopted at the Idlib-based Bab al-Hawa and the Aleppo-based Bab al-Salameh border crossings between Syria and Turkey were not feasible enough to ensure that the virus is not transmitted across the borders, according to medical reports and locals’ accounts, who have been tested in an assessment of potential infections. 

Indeed, the first confirmed case came from Turkey. But the northern regions of Syria share borders with areas held by the Syrian regime too, and others controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The latter two regions have recorded positive cases that pre-date the spread of the virus in north Syria.

Seeking to curb the pandemic’s spread, most nations across the world imposed restrictions on travel by land, sea and air. They either completely closed crossings and airports, or conditioned passengers’ movement, who were asked to undertake the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test that proves they do not have the virus. 

The Syria-Turkey border crossings followed suit and adopted similar measures. They were completely closed, banning in and out movement  as of mid-March, a few days into the virus’ spread in Turkey, according to separate statements made by the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salameh crossings. Nevertheless, the closure decision had some exceptions, as it allowed certain groups to travel back and forth, while conducting no smear tests to ascertain they are not carrying the virus. That puts both countries at the risk of potential outbreaks, if borders were crossed by asymptomatic passengers, who might have contracted the virus in either of the countries.  

On the condition of anonymity, an employee of a Gaziantep-based Syrian relief organization reported that lesser travel exceptions were granted during the pandemic, only a quarter of relief organization staffers, compared to the pre-pandemic figures, were allowed access. However, these continued to travel over the course of the pandemic through the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salameh crossings. Moreover, when dealing with the exceptional passengers, the measures adopted at the crossings were a matter of “formality”. On the Syrian side, for example, the measures were limited to temperature assessment and a few routine questions, asking passengers whether they had any of the virus’ symptoms, the employee added.

Travel exceptions are granted to

Turkish postal service (PTT) employees

Turkish policemen and court employees

Medical staffers

Relief and humanitarian organizations’ employees

Merchants 

Cross-border travel measures

Temperature assessment

Symptoms-related routine questions

48-hour self-isolation, imposed on merchants only 

Such travel exceptions are granted by Turkey to Syrian doctors all the time, allowing them access through Bab al-Hawa, north of Idlib, and Bab al-Salameh, north of Aleppo, under a single condition, that doctors coming from Turkey or Syria get their temperature assessed. Merchants, holding the Turkish state-issued card, are also allowed access through the borders, however, on the condition of committing themselves to a 48-hour quarantine before moving in and out of Turkey, as well as getting a regular smear test, according to the same source. 

This case also applies to Turkish employees, operating in the Olive Branch and Euphrates Shield areas, whose work dictates that they travel in and out of Syria on a regular basis, an officer of the Syrian Civil Police in the Euphrates Shield area said. 

From border areas, such as Hatay, Turkish employees arrive in Turkey-run Syrian areas, heading to the branches of the Turkish postal corporation, police departments and courts there. Even though these employees do not mix with Syrian civilians to a large extent, they get in touch with Syrian colleagues, according to the civil police officer. This turns the exact date of the virus’ entry to Syria into a subject worthy of investigation, along with the maintained safety procedures and health protocols regarding social distancing, the one-meter distance rule, wearing masks and gloves, and placing hand sanitizers in the workplace.

As of mid-July, the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salameh crossings have “officially” announced resuming traffic in and out of Syria, while adhering to “preventive measures”, after an official closure that denied civilians travel through the crossings since mid-March. Nevertheless, the preventive measures maintained by the crossings throughout the lockdown were described as “irresponsible and negligent” by an employee of a relief organization, based in southern Turkey. He recounted his experience with these measures, having travelled through the crossings regularly while they were officially closed. The source was tested himself, presenting an example of the border crossings’ mitigation policies which apply to other cases too. “Humanitarian organizations obtain an exception from Turkey, which allows employees to travel from/to Syria and Turkey once a month,” he said. 

 “It took us a temperature assessment only to be allowed to pass through the crossing. No other measures were maintained. Upon returning to Turkey, the same procedures were carried out. What strikes me as strange is that before arriving into the Turkish crossing, we were let into a cooled room on the Syrian side of the crossing. There, our body’s temperature cooled off, since we had to walk for about 15 minutes at the Bab al-Hawa Crossing,” he added, explaining that if any of the people granted the travel exception contracts the virus, he /she will not be certain about its source, whether it is Syria or Turkey. 

“Specialized teams were sterilizing all the crossing’s facilities and the buses that transported passengers to and from Turkey, in addition to sterilizing the departure centers. Furthermore, aboard free buses, social distancing was maintained between passengers, who were asked to wear masks and gloves,”  Mazen Alloush, director of the Public Relations Department at Bab Al-Hawa Crossing, responded. 

In the past few months, he added, they also established two medical posts in cooperation with the Syria Relief and Development Organization (SRD), one near the departure station and another at the entrance to Turkey. Doctors and nurses at the posts are assigned addressing the affairs of passengers travelling from/to Turkey only, applying measures such as assessing body temperature “only” and having them answer routine health-related questions. If passengers display COVID-19 symptoms, they are isolated and then transferred to quarantine facilities outside the crossing.

Coming from regime-held areas

Border crossings were not the virus’ only gateway to north Syria. The situation was the same at inside-Syria crossings, which demark the control areas held by the de facto authorities there.  

On July 25, the Infectious Disease Surveillance Laboratory announced recording the first COVID-19 positive case in the city of Sarmin, east of Idlib.  A source close to the confirmed case reported that the 60-year-old infected woman, originally from Sarmin,  was in the Syrian regime held areas and had to resort to illegal means to return to north Syria as internal crossings were shut down due to the outbreak. On August 10, the Epidemic Early Warning Alert and Response Network (EEWARN) recorded a second case, however, in the city of Darat Azza, west of Aleppo, which also came from the areas controlled by the Syrian regime. This is thus sufficient to prove that a number of the positive cases have carried the virus from the regime-held areas to those controlled by the opposition, even though the crossings between the two sides were back then closed. 

Muhammad Atallah said he was smuggled from the regime-held areas to north Syria, providing an account of his journey. “I lived in Lebanon for over seven years and had to return to Syria upon losing my job. I attempted entry through Turkey several times, but it did not work due to the visa. I was left one choice, passing through the Syrian regime’s control areas to reach Idlib province, my place of birth.”

“After I arrived in Aleppo, I stayed there for more than two weeks. There was no way to reach Idlib since the borders were closed for passengers by the opposition, fearing COVID-19. I had to seek smugglers. To get in touch with smugglers, my relatives told me that I should go to the bus terminal, where I will find them calling: ‘Idlib, Idlib!’ When I got to the bus terminal, I met a smuggler who appeared to be a fighter because he had a military outfit on. He presented me with the trafficking routes, adding that each would cost me a different price. The price reflects the level of comfort the passenger intends to enjoy. ‘If you do not wish to walk; you will be transported by a car for a couple of hours. This will cost you over $700 (about 1.5 million Syrian pounds). However, if you choose to take the Jabal al-Ahlam/ Mountain of Dreams road, where you have to walk for over two hours, you will have to pay $200 (420, 000 Syrian pounds), and it is not intended for families’,” he added. 

“After agreeing to take the Jabal Al-Ahlam road, we got on a bus, 10 of us, planning to reach the city of Nubul in northern rural Aleppo by evening. From there, we were next transported to a village in rural Aleppo, called Burj al-Qas, on a different bus, and then to the Brad village.  Finally, we had to take the Jabal al-Ahlam road on foot which led us to the city of Afrin, rural Aleppo.  It took me a few hours to arrive in the city of Idlib. Fearing to transmit the virus to my family in case I had it, I isolated myself at home for a week, until I made sure that I had none of the COVID-19 symptoms.” 

First case – track tracing

On June 21, a Syrian doctor entered north Syria through the Bab al-Salameh crossing. Less than ten days, on July 4, he began to feel COVID-19 symptoms, according to a medical source close to the doctor. On July 9, the tests proved he was positive for the virus. It has not been determined whether the doctor carried the virus with him from his residence in Gaziantep, Turkey, or had actually contracted it upon his return to Syria, for the virus’ incubation period is 2-14 days, said the Gaziantep-based doctor Yasser Farouh, a staffer of the Assistance Coordination Unit (ACU). “In both cases, what to blame is the measures adopted at the crossings, which they keep as a matter of ‘formalities’, when addressing the disorder caused by travel exceptions,” he added. 

On July 5, the infected doctor isolated himself in his residence at the doctors’ dorm of the Bab al-Hawa Hospital. He also underwent the PCR test two days later. The results came out on July 9, proving he tested positive. The Idlib Health Directorate, for its part, placed the Bab Al-Hawa Hospital under quarantine, including medical staff, inpatients, and clients for five days. Following this, it confirmed that all test results were negative. 

Before he was tested, the doctor stayed in al-Bab city between June 30 and July 1, visiting a relative who works in the al-Bab Hospital, where he could have possibly contracted the virus from a patient or a colleague in Syria, especially in the city of al-Bab, a doctor of the Idlib Health Directorate said on the condition of anonymity. 

Furthermore, on July 7, an inside medical source from al-Bab Hospital reported that a new COVID-19 case had been recorded of a non-resident Turkish doctor in the hospital. The case was not officially announced, neither by the Ministry of Health in the Syrian Interim Government, nor by the Turkish government. 

According to the source, the doctor is in charge of an ambulance and patients referred to Turkey. He carries out weekly shifts in the hospital and moves between the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch areas. This means the stakes are high that other people in areas of north Syria are already infected, given the geographical scope of the Turkish doctor’s movement. 

June 25

Fist case enters Syria

July 4

Feeling the Symptoms

July 9

PCR test results  

July 30

Staying in al-Bab City for 2 days 

Following the first infection, several other COVID-19 positive cases were recorded in north Syria, all of them are medical personnel, who may have had contact with Turkish doctors or Syrian patients at their workplace. On August 10, a second Syrian doctor tested positive — a pediatric surgeon at the Hand in Hand Hospital in Atma town in northern rural Idlib. The newly confirmed case prompted the Idlib Health Directorate to place the hospital under quarantine, with all the people inside it.  On the same day,   a third positive case was recorded, of an oral and maxillofacial surgeon at the Bab al-Hawa Hospital, who was quarantined at the doctors’ dorm of the hospital, according to one of the hospital’s administration officers. 

On July 11, an infection of one of the staffers of the Emergency Department at the Bab al-Hawa and al-Shifaa hospitals in Idlib city was reported. In response, the Health Directorate quarantined the second hospital’s personnel, but it failed to identify the infected persons, which is likely to allow for a large outbreak in Idlib, a source of the Idlib Health Directorate noted on the condition of anonymity. 

As the COVID-19 spread map grows larger, the threats arising from the underequipped medical sector in north Syria will continue to increase, for “the measures plan to combat the virus, if the region is to suffer a spike in cases, are modest because they depend on hospital equipment and manpower readiness,” Doctor Muhammad al-Salem said. 

Doctor Muhammad al-Abrash, for his part, said that the Health Directorate has provided tests, but the number is still insufficient to cover the population throughout north Syria. “A number of ventilators were secured and three isolation and recovery hospitals were constructed. However, these are not enough, for there are only about a 100 ventilators in north Syria,” he said. “For the time being, hospitals are obliging staff to maintain preventive measures, which have not been properly withheld so far.”

On September 5, the date of reporting, the positive case number mounted to 98, whereas 66 cases were recorded as recovered, according to the ACU. As a mitigation mechanism, the health directorates in the region are tracing contacts of the confirmed cases and testing them for the virus, enforcing no further restrictions, however. The people, on their turn, continue to violate safety and preventative measures, particularly social distancing.

This investigation is hosted by the Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ) and Radio Rozana.

The post Through Border Crossings, COVID-19 Infiltrates North Syria  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.

Hammado lives in Hanbushiyeh, a village located in the countryside of Jisr al-Shughur District, Idlib, northern Syria. She is worried that her adult siblings might contract the virus, since they spend most of the day outdoors and come home in the evening. According to her, they know it is time to return home when they feel hungry, but the news of the coronavirus outbreak has raised her concerns, and disrupted her plans. “We are worried about their health more than ours. I have taught them how to clean themselves, what and how to eat,” explains Hammado.

It is worth mentioning that Hammado communicates with her siblings through words and gestures, as well as repeating her words more than once, so that they would understand her and carry out what she told them to do. The spread of the virus across the world, and the fear of its outbreak in Syria with its deteriorating medical conditions, and the destruction of its infrastructure, are all factors that add salt to the wounds of a vulnerable sector of Syrians, namely, those with mental disabilities. Most of them are young people with ages ranging between 18-35 years old, who are unfortunately suffering in despair, as they fail to attract the attention of social and medical services providers. Hence, their burden rests solely on their relatives amid an acute shortage of aid facilities to combat the epidemic.  

“Unfortunately, people with special needs and mental disabilities have no access to medical facilities to save them from being infected,” commented the head of a treatment and psychological support center based in the countryside of Aleppo.

With the COVID-19 outbreak, specialists and doctors have repeatedly reported a surge in levels of violence against people of special needs, which leaves them in a very vulnerable situation and exacerbates their sufferings, according to the facts revealed in this report.

Flawed Laws

One of the challenges faced by disabled people, including those with a mental disability, mental illness, and others who have psychological and mental disorders, is the flawed laws concerning their conditions. Some cases aren’t necessarily a mental disorder, but legal texts occasionally use inadequate medical terms, resulting in a confusion between mental incapacities and psychological disorders. For example, the Syrian Personal Status Law stipulates that “a madman is fully incapacitated. In other words, all his actions shall be deemed null and void. He has no free will and all his actions are illegal, namely, buying and selling.”

Rahada Abdoush, a Lawyer from Damascus, pointed out that the current legal texts were drafted in the 1950s, and contain outdated terms that must be changed, such as the phrase “insane” and “imbecile.” Therefore in court, deciding on a matter, in practice, depends on the medical expert report. “The law does not determine the nature of the mental illness, but the medical expert report does. It distinguishes between the incompetent, the simpleton, the mentally ill, and the insane. It identifies all sorts of mental incapacities, as well as defining the aim of the law, the competence of a patient to manage his possessions and control his actions, and determines whether he needs a guardian and a curator. It also predicts the duration of his/her custody whether it is permanent or for a limited time,” Abdoush tells Daraj.

As of 2016, more than 10 thousand people were interdicted of their legal capacity in the five years that past, due to their incapacity and mental abnormality that were deemed to be “insane” or “imbecile,” according to Mahmoud al-Marawi, the first sharia court judge in Damascus, and according to the current legal characterization in Syria.

“To interdict a mentally disabled person of his legal capacity as well as the seizure of his money, upon the request of one of his relatives, the patient must undergo a medical examination that confirms his mental disorder,” explains the lawful judge.

It’s worth mentioning that no such cases of coronavirus have been reported, neither in other Syrian regions under the control of the opposition, Northern Syria, or in the Autonomous Administration of East Syria.

However, the Crnic institute has recently published a study in the scientific journal Nature revealing that Down syndrome patients are more susceptible to autoimmune diseases, and therefore more likely to be infected with COVID-19.  

Acute Shortage of Doctors

The situation of those who are mentally challenged has become increasingly complicated, with an acute shortage of specialist doctors and care centres. Doctor scarcity rates have surged, and the medical centres’ readiness for treatment and diagnosis have decreased as a result of the conflict. The official figures have estimated that the number of psychologists in Syria is only around 70 psychologists, which would cover around 9% of the needs. “There are three doctors for every one million people, while the acceptable global rate is one doctor for every 10,000 people,” explains Dr. Mazen Haydar, President of the Syrian Association of Psychiatrists.

During her long working day from the morning until late at night, Maha Jawad, the Psychiatry specialist, who works at “Al-Nafs Al-Mutmainnah” centre, an affiliate of the Syrian American Medical Society, SAMS, in Al-Dana village in Aleppo’s rural areas, raises awareness about the necessity of preventing their relatives and family members who suffer from mental disabilities and psychiatric disorders from participating in gatherings because their susceptibility of contracting the virus is higher than others, due to the lack of sufficient information to face the pandemic .

The employees working in the centre, which provides services in the field of mental illness and chronic diseases for nearly 4,000 persons varying between existing and new cases, are currently reinforcing health awareness to patients and their families on personal hygiene, sanitization and regular hand washing, in light of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Muhammad Bassam Abdul-Kareem (17 years), is among the patients regularly visiting the centre to receive medical services and counseling. According to his father (Bassam), the young man suffers from physical and mental disabilities, and often endures painful convulsions and seizures.

Muhammad lives with his family in the Hazano region in Idlib’s countryside. These days, his father is mainly concerned about the fear of the spread of the pandemic following its outbreak in Syria, and the lack of tranquilizers and neurological medications in the region. Even if they were to be available they were often overpriced.

“We suffer from the lack of medicine, and we must be very cautious with our son, we give him disinfectants and face masks, and we prevent him from being exposed to others to protect his health,” explains Bassam.

One of the doctors in Idlib has noted that the Sharia Court in Damascus reported that ‘insanity’ and ‘imbecile’ cases, which are the terms that the Syrian law uses to refer to people with mental disabilities, account for 50 cases only in Idlib governorate in 2014, 250 cases in Aleppo and around 3,000 cases all around Syria. He added that it has recently become hard to count the cases due to the repetitive displacement and intermittent military attacks that hinder the work of specialised organisations and medical centres.

According to the agreement on the rights of people with disabilities ratified by Syria, the state should be committed to provide people with disabilities with forms of human aid. The official website of the Syrian ministry of health has estimated that the number of beneficiaries of mental health services in 2019 amounted to 135,242 people. 

One Quarter of the Village Residents are “Disabled”

Mariam complains about everything, starting from the lack of social and medical support to her four brothers, and the lack of support for people with mental disability in general, to the fact that no one is helping them in facing COVID-19, to the family’s weak purchasing power. She noted that her family needs 2500 to 3000 Syrian liras per day ( US$ 1) only to buy bread, given that 1 kg of bulgur wheat costs 1,000 liras and 1kg of lentils costs 1,300 liras.

Shaker Abdou, the local council representative in “Al-Hanbousheh” village in Jisr Al-Shaghour countryside, stressed that the council is unable to provide aid or support for disabled people due to the lack of support by humanitarian organisations, the lack of expertise and the absence of medical centres in the village.   The local council official has estimated that the number of disabled people in the village accounts for 25% of the residents, around one quarter of the village residents. This is attributed to the frequent marriage among relatives, which often complicates the situation further. This reality has affected Mariam, and people like her, as she tries hard to protect her siblings from contracting the Coronavirus, even though she also suffers from a disability in her right foot as a result of around 9 surgeries to be able to walk on her feet again.

Fear of the Unknown

Not only do the special needs people living in northern Syria not receive adequate support and aid, but also those in other regions, particularly areas that have been witnessing military action and airstrikes in eastern Syria during the battles against ISIS.

Continuous cleaning and the fear of infection of people with mental disabilities and those with fragile physical structures, compel the mother of the young Khedr Issa, 30 years, from the village of Qara Qoy, a town of Darbasiyah in Hasakah, to be close to him day and night.

Young Khedr, registered with the Directorate of Social Affairs and Labor in Hasakah, as a person who is suffering from mental retardation, with deformities in the head and eye, needs a caregiver, and has not received any official assistance. No one has ever inquired about his health status before, neither during quarantine periods, nor during the peak global spread of the disease, nor after the spread of the virus in Syria.

His mother is fully in charge of taking care of his health, and protecting him from the pandemic, despite her severe poverty status.

“We have not received help from anyone,” she says, sitting in her rural home’s court, “He washes his hands daily with soap, I don’t allow him to go out and mix. I have been taking care of him since he was a young boy. I don’t know who will take care of him when I am gone… I love him a lot.”

On the other hand, some medical centers in the Hasakah region provide services, in the fields of educational support and child protection, including the “Smart” Center in al-Qamishli, established in 2012 and with projects extending to al-Hasakah, Deir al-Zour, and Raqqa. As the Coronavirus epidemic began to spread, there were no plans to target people with mental disabilities with awareness programs, according to the psychologist and director of the center, Mohammad Ali Uthman.

“There is no special support for people with disabilities to protect them against COVID-19, the projects are related to education and child protection, but we are working on spreading awareness and printing posters for prevention,” he added.   Safety instructions targeting about 500 people, including children, include maintaining social distancing, at a distance of at least one meter, disinfection, as well as wearing gloves and masks.

Violence During Coronavirus

People with special mental needs are living with the consequences of COVID-19, whether they are adults or children, a large part of them remaining home to avoid mixing, according to the director of the Smart Medical Center.

Staying at home can be a positive factor, protecting them against the disease, and against being affected by other factors, such as violence towards them; for specialists began to record levels of violence against them during the Coronavirus pandemic in Syria. This was demonstrated by the results of a questionnaire prepared by the Syria Bright Future (SBF) foundation for psychiatric health, social support, and protection, to measure levels of violence toward people with special needs, and the levels at which they have access to adequate information about COVID-19 in Syria.

The survey revealed, according to psychiatry consultant Mohamed Abu-Hilal (44 years old), that 20% of the respondents believe that “there is an increase in violence against people with disabilities during this period, and that 25% of those who answered the questionnaire believe that people with disabilities do not have sufficient information about the disease.”

“Violence has increased in general because of increased friction among people throughout the day, and due to the stressful atmosphere affecting families and special needs people, and thus the ability to understand their behavior has declined,” he explained.

Moreover, a report concerned with psychological and social support during the period of Coronavirus, issued by IASC-Inter Agency Standing Committee, shows that disabled people face obstacles during the spread of COVID-19, such as the cost of health care that limits their access to services, as well as prejudices, stigma and discrimination against them, including the belief that they cannot contribute to the response to the outbreak of the Coronavirus. This leaves them and their caregivers with additional pressure.

In Syria, the Coronavirus pandemic has been putting additional weight on an already-exhausted people, and the more fragile segments seem to be forgotten models of daily Syrian suffering.

The Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ)

The post Syria: Those with Special Needs Facing COVID-19 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.