Education and Health
Enabling dignity in urban displacement
War in Syria is taking a catastrophic toll on the health of the civilian population. Expectant mothers lack critical obstetric care. Children face rising malnutrition rates and inadequate vaccines. According to Physicians for Human Rights, there have been 573 attacks on 350 health care facilities in Syria. Health care professionals are fleeing the country for lack of safer underground hospitals. Aid agencies find it increasingly difficult to bring supplies and staff into Syria and to conduct medical evacuations from the country.
Host countries in the Middle East are struggling to absorb the influx of refugees. 43% of school-aged Syrian refugee children in the region are out of school, according to the KidsRights Foundation. In Lebanon, many Syrian refugee children lack the funds to pay for the documentation, transportation or supplies needed to access public schools. Access to secondary education and vocational training is limited among refugee youth. Single female-headed households often lack feasible remote work opportunities to protect them from destitution, exploitation, and eviction.
With little to no safety net and restricted legal work opportunities, the most vulnerable refugees struggle to afford out-of-pocket medical costs for childbirth complications and chronic conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, and cardiac conditions.
RPI and its local implementing partners are working to meet these needs by:
- Providing refugees with regulated non-formal primary school education and financial support for uncovered medical care
- Equipping mobile medical clinics and a specialized internal medicine hospital in Syria with medicine for internally displaced civilians
- Referring critical cases to a key pediatric hospital in north-western Syria, that was rehabilitated and equipped with our support
- Enhancing access to winter clothing, first aid, heating supplies, and other humanitarian items through job training and distribution
- Developing vocational training and remote work opportunities that promote self-reliance among female-headed refugee households and victims of sexual and gender-based violence
Educating Vulnerable Syrians
In Lebanon, 3,010 refugee children received non-formal education and 10,250 Syrians received medical and cultural awareness sessions.
Strengthening Livelihoods That Give Back
In Syria, 1,123 persons received nursing, alternative heating fuel, and/or winter clothing distributed by 88 women who received skills training. 88 refugee teachers in Lebanon received training, 83 of which also received classroom materials.
Medical Needs and Clothing
An underground maternal and pediatric hospital in Syria was rehabilitated with the infrastructural capacity to serve an estimated 56,160 patients per year. 690 conflict-affected civilians inside Syria received winter clothing. 89 refugees in Lebanon accessed uncovered medical needs. 85 received relief kits.
Syrian children in Douma, Eastern Ghouta participating in an underground psychosocial support project implemented by RPI’s partner Aosus.
The Avicenna Children’s Hospital in Idlib, Syria, was rehabilitated, equipped, and moved underground for safety by RPI’s partner SIMRO.
RPI’s partner MAPS providing education to Syrian children displaced to Lebanon.
