Ahead of a conference in London meant to raise money to address the Syrian crisis, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) released this paper calling on world leaders at the conference to prioritize the country’s shattered health system by creating mechanisms for thousands of displaced Syrian medical professionals to temporarily practice in neighboring countries to which they have fled.
Over the past five years, PHR has documented a staggering rise in the deliberate bombing of non-military targets such as hospitals and clinics in Syria, and condemned the use of indiscriminate weapons such as barrel bombs and chemical weapons that instill terror and cause egregious injuries. The destruction of health care infrastructure carries particularly wide-ranging and long-lasting consequences. The Syrian government’s unprecedented assault is not only disrupting emergency aid, it is also depriving whole communities of routine health care and threatening their very capacity to survive.
In this paper, PHR provides recommendations to donor governments that would demonstrate their commitment to the health and well-being of the Syrian people, to the principles of mutual recognition of health professional qualifications, and to core commitments by the global community to sustainable development in the region.