About R4HSSS

Entering its twelfth year, the Syrian conflict is still one of the most devastating humanitarian crises in the world. The conflict has caused a severe disruption in health services leading to a collapse of the health system in the most conflict-affected areas. Attacks on healthcare have been a major threat in Syria, in what has been described as a weaponisation of health care. The UN estimates that half of the health facilities in Syria are either only partially functional or destroyed. Physicians for Human Rights have documented 588 attacks on health facilities and 914 medical personnel killed between March 2011 and November 2019. Essential health services have been further disrupted by the increasing number of health professionals fleeing the country. This has left populations with limited access to healthcare leading to increased vulnerability to communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Our project studies the experience of health systems in north west Syria (Idlib area) and develop plans for the health system in northern Syria for the early recovery phase. This will be done in relation to four elements of health system adaptation and strengthening; provision of health services, health education and medical training, health governance and financing, and the use of digital solutions in health information system to inform future post conflict systems strengthening.

R4HSSS Aims and Objectives

Produce a model on health system strengthening in the context of north west Syria, which could be applied in other contexts affected by long and complex conflicts. The project does this through research activities that are embedded within the humanitarian and development in north west Syria to document best practices, highlight gaps, and propose solutions and mid to long term plans for the issues facing the health system in north west Syria.​

The critical phase that the health system in north western Syria is going through necessitates shifts in health services modality: sustainable interventions, systems thinking, evidence based approaches, contribution to the triple nexus. ​

The importance of equal multidisciplinary partnerships. How this project was built on R4HC. How the partnership KCL/UOSSM/SPHN/SyRG/IHD was developed with the aim to expand this consortium. Localisation is at the heart of this approach. ​