Since the collapse of the former government of Syria in December 2024, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have gained access to parts of the country previously controlled by the regime that were unreachable for more than a decade of war. In addition to maintaining activities in northern Syria, our teams expanded and increased their presence in 11 out of 14 governorates in Syria to increase people’s access to primary, secondary, and specialized health care.
Syria: Health care for neglected communities
For over a decade, people’s health needs in Syria were neglected due to the war. Health facilities were systematically damaged and destroyed, leaving some people, especially those living in rural areas, with little to no health care access.
Years of conflict and a destroyed health care system
People’s health needs across Syria have gone neglected for well over a decade even in areas not directly affected by conflict. Some 16.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.
During the war, health facilities were systematically damaged or destroyed, leaving many Syrians with little to no access to health care, especially in rural areas.
Many of the health care facilities that are still standing are either partially functional or not functional at all due to huge challenges such as insufficient human resources. Those facilities that are still functional are struggling to meet massive health needs exacerbated by long years of conflict.
People with non-communicable diseases, for example, have been living without the treatment they need. After years of economic collapse, 9 out of 10 Syrians are living in poverty, making what medication is available in the country unaffordable for many.
While needs are massive everywhere, severe global funding cuts for humanitarian programs have impacted all aid sectors in Syria, including the health care system. Many aid organizations have had to abruptly withdraw their support, forcing some hospitals and health care centers to make the difficult decision to reduce activities or close down completely.
Bringing care closer to communities
“The primary goal of our operations is to respond to the people’s medical and humanitarian needs, bringing care closer to communities who may not have access to it,” said Brian Moller, MSF head of mission in Syria.
MSF is running a hospital for specialized burn treatment and co-managing a hospital with the Directorate of Health in Idlib, in addition to supporting four other hospitals in other areas to provide services like emergency care, malnutrition treatment, and maternity care. We are also providing mass casualty trainings and capacity building for staff members in other facilities across the country and supporting the burn departments of five hospitals in Syria, assisting the Ministry of Health in developing a network of burn treatment units.
MSF is also working in 15 health facilities such as primary health care centers and clinics across the country. Among the activities run or supported by MSF are outpatient consultations, care for non-communicable diseases, sexual and reproductive health care services, and mental health support. In addition, we run mobile clinics to help ensure access to primary care in underserved communities in Aleppo, Idlib, and Rural Damascus.
MSF’s work in Syria in 2025
In the first six months of 2025, MSF collaborated with the Ministry of Health to provide more than:
- 396,200 outpatient consultations, including for non-communicable diseases
- 135,700 emergency room consultations
- 125,900 pediatric consultations
- 85,400 sexual and reproductive health care consultations
- 23,800 inpatient admissions
- 18,200 individual mental health consultations
Returning to rubble and remnants of war
As of July 2025, it is estimated that more than 1.5 million internally displaced Syrians have returned to their homes since late November 2024, and more than 641,000 Syrian refugees have crossed back into Syria from neighboring countries since early December 2024.
But they’re not necessarily returning home. Civilian infrastructure such as houses, power grids, and water sources were decimated in the conflict. Many people are living in shells of houses and completely unsafe buildings, putting them at risk of traumatic injury.
In addition, returnees face the life-threatening risk of unexploded ordnance and landmines, which are scattered throughout homes and farmlands, hampering their ability to rebuild their lives.
Lack of access to water and sanitation threatens health
Access to clean water in areas of return as well as displacement camps and settlements is a huge challenge, compounded by the lack of electricity, drought, and destroyed infrastructure. People are relying on water distributed by trucks, which carries a risk of contamination. Sewage and waste management systems are partially functioning at best or completely destroyed in some areas.
“MSF is worried about the health implications of the poor water and sanitation conditions we’re witnessing in areas of return and displacement camps,” said Caroline Chestnutt, MSF water and sanitation activity manager in Syria. “Dire living conditions continue to put people at risk of infectious diseases such as skin infections and waterborne diseases such as acute and chronic watery diarrhea.”
MSF teams are rehabilitating boreholes and supplying residents with clean water in both areas of return and displacement camps across Syria.
“The work of our Syrian colleagues has been crucial in maintaining our activities throughout the conflict,” said Moller. “MSF remains firmly committed to advocating for the most pressing needs and systematic gaps hindering access to essential medical care.”
