While many emergency and humanitarian services look to provide primary care for refugees, very few include aspects essential to women’s health. Conflicts often disrupt access to essential services, and prolonged emergencies further weaken a country’s health system. In times of conflict, women disproportionately suffer the effects of disrupted health systems,...
Women and children are the most affected demographic in any crisis and often experience the brunt of poor health outcomes. Gender-based violence, early marriage, poor maternal care, and lack of access to reproductive health services affect millions of women caught in conflict. Reproductive health includes a broad range of topics...
“All I hope for is to recover and go back to my home and my children, to care for them until they grow up and be able to look after themselves.” Anwar Mohammed Aqla, 28, a Syrian refugee from Dara’a, currently lives in Al-Za’atari Refugee Camp with her husband and...
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 13 million people inside Syria are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The ever-growing needs, combined with the protracted nature of the Syrian conflict and refugee crisis, have led to significant gaps in funding for...
The psychosocial impacts of being a refugee are so widespread, they have reached epidemic proportions. Unfortunately, however, mental health for Syrians and other refugees still fails to receive the same recognition or aid that physical epidemics, such as viral diseases, do. The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) is dedicated to...
Haneen is a 12-year-old patient at a SAMS-supported dialysis center in Lebanon. Her journey started 6 months ago when high blood pressure led to the failure of one of her kidneys. While other youth her age are returning to school, Haneen must undergo dialysis treatment twice a week. Haneen is...
Attacks on medical facilities are a violation of international humanitarian law. Unfortunately, that has not deterred armed forces from systematically and deliberately attacking health centers in Syria. Between 2011 and 2017, there were 492 attacks on healthcare in Syria, killing 847 medical personnel. From January to July, 2018, another 119...
Chronic care is beyond the capacity of many nonprofit health organizations, as well as UNHCR, due to high costs and limited funding. Most organizations are limited to providing basic primary care for Syrian refugees. However, 83% of Syrian refugee households in Lebanon report at least one family member is living...
In the informal settlements in Akkar, near the Syria-Lebanon border, the atmosphere was entirely different than our clinic in Tripoli. Although the work conditions were harder with the scorching sun and dusty air, the ebullient spirit of the children brought joy and much needed lightness. They often greeted us playfully,...
This past July, our team arrived in Lebanon with 14 suitcases filled with medications, vitamins, anti-eczema creams, anti-lice shampoos, medical and dental supplies, a portable ultrasound, and a healthy dose of determination. Organized by the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), our team of 13 US-based doctors and 11 interpreters participated...
My six years providing care for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) could not have prepared me for the complexity and gravity of the psychosocial wellbeing in refugee settlements in Lebanon. I recently joined the Syrian American Medical Society as a mental health volunteer on a medical mission to the Beka’a Valley...
Using her crutches, Tamam moves quietly and measures her steps to reach SAMS makeshift clinics inside a settlement in the Bekaa Valley, where SAMS medical mission volunteers are providing treatment and medications for some of the many Syrian refugees residing in the area. Tamam, 63, fled to Lebanon six years...
