Apr 18, 2018

Syria's health care system is in crisis

An injured man rests his leg

Syrians seek medical care after a regime bombing last month. Photo: Khaled Akacha/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The Syrian civil war has taken a devastating toll on the country's health care system.

The big picture: More than half of its public hospitals are closed or operating at a diminished capacity, and 75% of Syrian health care workers have fled the country, per a Wall Street Journal video filmed on the ground in Raqqa.

  • "No doctors, no hospitals, no nothing. No water, no electricity, nothing. It's the wilderness, like living in the forest," says one father who traveled over two hours to seek treatment for his son.
  • The people who have died from a lack of health care aren't included in official death tallies, and those effects could last for years after the fighting ends (if it ever does).

Go deeper: Watch the video.

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