Diabetes, shrapnel wounds and newborn twins – An MSF hospital in Syria

In Syria the number of people in need of urgent medical care keeps increasing. MSF runs six hospitals, four health centres and several mobile clinic programmes inside Syria. While these medical programmes are undoubtedly saving dozens of lives every day, the extremely high insecurity means that MSF's reach is limited. Throughout most of the country, there are places where medical services are either limited or totally absent.

Besides the injuries from shrapnel and fragments of bomb blasts, there are countless numbers of people affected by common health problems; pathologies that are entirely manageable in a normal setting, but can quickly become deadly in the midst of a war when the usual healthcare options are suddenly no longer available. Diabetes, hypertension, asthma and maternal health complications are all taking their toll.

Since the conflict began up to end June 2013, MSF teams in Syria have carried out more than 55,000 medical consultations, 2,800 surgical procedures, and 1,000 deliveries. MSF teams have also provided more than 140,000 consultations for Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries.