Syrian mothers are struggling to give birth in safe conditions six months on from the catastropic earthquake on the border of Turkey and Syria which claimed more than 8,000 lives.
More than two million women and girls have been left without access to medical care, particularly sexual and reproductive healthcare, charity ActionAid UK has said, following the 7.8 magnitude quake on February 6 and the aftershocks that followed.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 4,500 deaths and 10,400 injuries were reported in northwest Syria due to the earthquakes.
It estimated that 43 per cent of the injured are women and girls while 20 per cent of the injured are children aged five to 14 years old. Among the hardest hit areas was rebel-held northwestern Syria that is home to some 4.5 million people, many of whom have been displaced by the country’s 12-year conflict that has killed half a million.
The earthquake destroyed hospitals and healthcare facilities and caring for infants has become even more dangerous, ActionAid’s Syria-Türkiye Humanitarian Response Lead Alam Janbein said.
“Giving birth should be a happy, joyous occasion for any mother, but instead, for women in north-west Syria, it has become a dangerous assault course of obstacles,” she said.
More than four million people are trapped by conflict in north-west Syria and 80 per cent are women and children who live in overcrowded, temporary displacement camps in the province of Idlib.
For these women travelling to urgent medical care such as caesarean sections, premature labour, or children needing emergency assistance, has become almost unviable, the aid organisation said.
Two maternal and reproductive healthcare wards have been opened in Idlib thanks to British donations to February’s Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal.
A hospital in northwest Syria provides services to 58 neighbouring camps for internally displaced people and is run by ActionAid’s local partner Violet.
More than 5,000 women and girls displaced by the earthquakes have already received urgent medical care.
Hospital Coordinator, Dr Waseem Bakir said: “The biggest challenge facing medical facilities however, particularly in northern Syria is the scarcity of medical staff, especially gynaecologists. Pregnant women here have been without care for almost a year.”
Ghufran, a midwife working at the newly funded maternity ward, who was delivering babies when the earthquake hit, says their services are essential: “After the earthquake occurred, many women came to us, frightened and terrified.â¯â¯â¯
“The earthquake caused some women to miscarry, and we witnessed premature bleeding for many in their first and second trimester. Some experienced high blood pressure. It was horrifying for these mothers.”
One mother, Abeer, who gave birth to her daughter in the new hospital, said she felt dizzy and fell when the earthquake struck and was terrified to lose her baby.
“I was pregnant when the earthquake happened and I had a lot of issues, troubles like dizziness. I fell to the ground and had a painful accident, and I was afraid for the baby in my womb.
“I welcome the fact that there are many female staff at the hospital. The staff behaved like family to me.
“I wish my daughter a good and decent life, and God willing, a better life.”
