Enhance preparedness for winter in areas with high needs and provide lifesaving and life sustaining health services to those affected by harsh winter conditions in areas with low health coverage (12) ltpgtlt/pgtltp class="" style=""gtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif color: black"gtltbrgt
lt/spangtltspan lang="EN-US"gtlt/spangtlt/pgt

ltp class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:9.95pt"gtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"gtThe protracted crisis in Syria, which has been compounded by the
earthquake that struck Syria on 6th of Feb and by the socio-economic deterioration
in the country, continues to limit Syrian households’ ability to access basic
services, pushing them further in deprivation and extreme poverty .
With no political solution foreseen on the near horizon, conditions are
expected to further decline necessitating urgent action to support those in need.lt/spangtltspan lang="EN-US"gtlt/spangtlt/pgt

ltp class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:9.95pt"gtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"gtIn targeted locations, WHO has identified the following concerns based
upon field visits and secondary data analysis:lt/spangtltspan lang="EN-US"gtlt/spangtlt/pgt

ltp class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0inmargin-right:0inmargin-bottom:9.95pt
margin-left:17.95pttext-indent:-17.95pt"gtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"gt-       Lack of of access to basic
services contributing to high severity of needs lt/spangtltspan lang="EN-US"gtlt/spangtlt/pgt

ltp class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0inmargin-right:0inmargin-bottom:9.95pt
margin-left:17.95pttext-indent:-17.95pt"gtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"gt-       Outbreaks of disease over
the previous 12 – 24 months, including cholera, COVID-19 and severe acute respiratory
illness (SARI).lt/spangtltspan lang="EN-US"gtlt/spangtlt/pgt

ltp class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0inmargin-right:0inmargin-bottom:9.95pt
margin-left:17.95pttext-indent:-17.95pt"gtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"gt-       Acute shortage of functional
health facilities, partly due to many health facilities being damaged. lt/spangtltspan lang="EN-US"gtlt/spangtlt/pgt

ltp class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0inmargin-right:0inmargin-bottom:9.95pt
margin-left:17.95pttext-indent:-17.95pt"gtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"gt-       Number of available beds per
10,000 population is well below the SPHERE standard of 18 in many of the targeted
areas such as: Aleppo - 4, Al Haskeh - 2, Dier Ez Zor - 1, and Rural Damascus –
6. lt/spangtlt/pgt

ltp class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:9.95pt"gtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"gt-       Spiraling exchange rates and
inflation have impacted household resources – further hindering health access
due to transportation costs.lt/spangtltspan lang="EN-US"gtlt/spangtlt/pgt

ltp class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:9.95ptmso-prop-change:"gtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"gt-       Crossline areas are
chronically underserved by cross-border operations and communities within
governmental control are in critical need due to additional burdens as well as conflict-related
displacements. lt/spangtlt/pgt

ltp class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:9.95pt"gtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"gt-      Referral services normally
provided by either Directorate of Health and/or Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC)
are frequently interrupted due to fuel shortages and/or vehicle disrepair,
leaving thousands of patients without viable access to emergency medical care –
particularly those in remote areas.  lt/spangtltspan lang="EN-US"gtlt/spangtlt/pgt

ltp class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:9.95pt"gtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"gtThe health system’s capacity to respond to the needs has been
extremely disrupted due to intense hostilities, shortages of medication,
damaged medical devices and facilities and limited financial and human
resources.  In total, only 69% of the public health centers and 77% of
public hospitals are currently functioning throughout the country (HeRAMS June
2023) which prevents timely access to health services and leaves thousands of
people at increased risk of mortality and morbidity. lt/spangtlt/pgt

ltp class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:9.95pt"gtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"gtWith winter approaching, seasonal data from the Early Warning,
Alert and Response System (EWARS) indicates that the risk of outbreaks and spikes
in caseloads of COVID-19, Influenza Like Illnesses, (ILI) and Severe Acute
Respiratory Illness (SARI) are expected to increase, namely due to lack of fuel
and electricity, poor housing and WASH systems, and overcrowded settings. In
late 2022, the data shows that ILI accounted for 53% of all conditions reported
to EWARS while SARI cases represented about 2.2% of total cases. Moreover, in
winter of 2022- 2023, Ar-Raqqa and Deir Ez-Zor faced an outbreak of influenza B
which primarily affected children under the age of 10. An additional 165 SARI
cases were recorded together with 26 associated deaths – all of them in
children. It is worth noting that national rates of Global Acute Malnutrition
have increased from 2.3 to 3.1 between 2022 and June of 2023 meaning more
children are facing increased susceptibility to disease due to immunological
impacts of malnutrition. The situation is especially dire in NES and Aleppo
which accounted for close to 80% of all cases of severe acute malnutrition with
complications admitted to WHO-supported stabilization centers in 2022. With climbing
GAM rates and worsening socio-economic conditions, children in these areas are
expected to face tremendous risks to health in the coming winter months.lt/spangtlt/pgt

ltp class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:9.95pt"gtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif color: black"gt lt/spangtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"gtAgainst this backdrop,
enhancing health system and population preparedness for winter and providing
life-saving and life-sustaining health services to areas with low health
coverage is critical to lower the ILI disease burden across Syria and the
associated deaths. lt/spangtltspan lang="EN-US"gtlt/spangtlt/pgt

ltpgtltspan lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif color: black"gt lt/spangtlt/pgt



ltp class="sceditor-nlf"gtltbrgtlt/pgtltpgtlt/pgt