Syria health emergency: 12 years of crisis topped by deadly earthquake

WHO EMRO
Mar 15, 2023

Syria health emergency: 12 years of crisis topped by deadly earthquake


Even before the earthquake, the humanitarian crisis in Syria had been steadily worsening since 2011. Ravaged by over a decade of ongoing conflict that has led to major socioeconomic decline, huge population displacement, the erosion of a once-solid health system, COVID-19, and the spread of transmissible diseases, such as cholera and measles, Syria was in no way prepared to face a natural disaster of such proportions as the 6 February 2023 earthquake.