Syria Crisis - Reproductive Health and Support for Survivors of Violence - UNFPA 2013

November 2013 - The humanitarian situation in Syria has rapidly deteriorated over the past year as a result of the civil war in the country. The United Nations estimates more than 110 000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands more wounded due to the violence. Within Syria some 9.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance 6.5 million of whom are internally displaced. In addition over 2.2 million Syrian refugees are living in host countries in the region. Women and children are particularly vulnerable to the gravest consequences of the conflict and host countries are increasingly overstretched by the influx of people needing assistance. With DFATD’s support the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is increasing access to health care services protection clinical and social services for refugee and host populations inside Syria and in neighbouring countries in particular pregnant women and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. Project activities include: (i) providing health care services protection clinical and social services through mobile teams camps-based services and home-to-home visits; (ii) training refugee and host communities on methods to prevent and address sexual and gender-based violence; and (iii) training health professionals and social workers to provide psychosocial support for victims of sexual and gender-based violence.

The expected immediate outcomes of this project include: (i) increased access to health care services to conflict-affected people; and (ii) improved access to protection health counseling and psychosocial services to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Syria and the region. The expected intermediate outcome is reduced vulnerability of crisis-affected people especially women and children.