Photo: George Moutafis
With the increase in the number of internally displaced persons (more than 1.2 million according to the UN) and the upsurge in violence, in October MdM opened a primary healthcare centre in north western Syria. In the nearby centre of the village of Qah, where 5,000 Syrians have massed, Médecins du Monde receives hundreds of patients per day, mostly women and children.
“The main pathologies encountered by physicians are conditions related to the living conditions of these people during their many displacements. They have often left in haste, leaving behind everything they owned, which makes them even more vulnerable,” says Joël Weiler, general coordinator of MdM.
With the approach of winter season, Doctors of the World is distributing blankets, soap and plastic sheeting to ensure better living conditions for enduring the winter. A system of water supply is being established, as is the distribution of hygiene kits to reduce the risk of infectious diseases in the camp.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have also found refuge in neighbouring countries and the United Nations estimates that this number will be 720,000 by the end of the year.
In Jordan, MdM is present in the town of Ramtha, in King Abdullah Park and in the camp in Zaatari, which now has more than 30,000 Syrian refugees. Doctors of the World brings primary and mental healthcare to these vulnerable populations in conjunction with the Jordanian Ministry of Health.
In the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, Doctors of the World, in partnership with the Lebanese organisation Amel, supports and supplies drugs to two health facilities in which nearly 1,000 consultations are conducted each month.
On the occasion of 10 December, the International Day of Human Rights, Doctors of the World reminds you that we must refuse the unacceptable. MdM calls upon armed actors to respect the rules of international law aimed at reducing the effects of violence on civilians, the wounded and health workers.
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