‘It couldn’t be more critical at this time’: WHO on Syria funding gap

The UN says humanitarian needs are growing in Syria – with thousands of people displaced across the country following the collapse of the regime.

We spoke to Christina Bethke from the World Health Organisation.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: The hospitals must also be on their knees. How great is the need?

Christina Bethke: Thank you so much. Indeed, even before this crisis, we had more than 15 million people that were in need of health services. And we know at least 1.6 million have been displaced since. Just about 50% of hospitals are functional at this time when we have a great need for emergency and trauma care. And we also know that populations are on the move right now. And we have a tremendous concern about contamination with explosive ordnance.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: So how will that be filled in the short term?

Christina Bethke: So the UN and its partners are on the ground. WHO is focused on ensuring the continuity of health care in this country, and we do that through working with local partners. Some of our priorities are not only to look at the hospital services, but also primary health care. And additionally, we see a tremendous growing need for psychological support. We’re seeing families, communities, children alike, exhibiting signs of trauma and distress as a result of their displacement in the conflict.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: This is also going to boil down to resource here in Syria. I know you’re dealing with this new transitional government and they are clearly seeking funding from, you know, perhaps friendly countries outside. They’ve got talks with Qatar and Turkey today. How urgent is it to fill that funding gap?

Christina Bethke: So even before this escalation began, more than 140 health care facilities, mainly in northwest Syria, were facing imminent closure as a result of lack of resources. And for the humanitarian community, we have an annual appeal for the needs. And it was only 25% funded before this all started. So it couldn’t be more critical at this time.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: And there could be a big influx of people. There are millions of Syrians who are thinking about coming back.

Christina Bethke: Rightly so. We do expect that and we worry about ensuring that as a health system already under strain. I mean, we had the earthquake, we’ve had cholera. We’ve had more than half a million people come from Lebanon during that country’s crisis very recently. And now with the tremendous displacement and influx, we’re quite worried about sustaining those health services and helping them be able to deliver life-saving care to people in need.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: They are trying to keep their emergency services going clearly. And organisations like the White Helmets and Violet are trying to sort of step in, but they could quickly find it’s quite difficult and complicated to keep going. I mean, how far away are we potentially from a sort of a breakdown in that sort of emergency care?

Christina Bethke: So the health system in most places will always endure irrespective of the level of conflict. It’s a question of will people be able to access life-saving care on time at the level that they need? And indeed, there’s critical things that need to come. It’s not only resources. First and foremost, we need to protect health care workers and health facilities. We also have an urgent need to reopen the border crossings to allow those emergency supplies to flow into the country.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: And now there is still war going on in this country as well. So how does that complicate the picture in the north?

Christina Bethke: I think there’s a couple of things. Certainly displacement, because the more people on the move, the more strain, and again, the safety and protection of health care workers and health facilities is so critical. Unfortunately, we’ve seen across this conflict that that hasn’t always been protected. And so that complicates things further. And then again, the ability of the system to sustain increased strain. If we have an outbreak, if we have more displacement, it’s hard to sustain those services.