Since the outbreak of the Syrian conflict in 2011, the country has endured immense suffering, with more than 75 percent of the country’s 10.5 million children born into a war-torn nation, according to UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund).
Many of these children, now entering their teenage years, have known only violence, displacement and deprivation. The health impact has been severe, with rising malnutrition, stunted growth and inadequate access to essential nutrients threatening their long-term development.
Historically, “Syria never had an issue with malnutrition in children,” says Yasmine Lababidi, World Food Programme (WFP) team lead for nutrition and school feeding in Damascus. Even amid conflict, children remained relatively protected, thanks to the sacrifices of adults, such as skipping meals.
But after more than a decade of war, economic collapse, a global pandemic, the devastating earthquake of 2023 and fallout from the conflict in Lebanon in the final months of 2024, the situation has drastically changed.