TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Children in the Syrian civil war: the familial, educational, and public health impact of ongoing violence
JO  - Disaster medicine and public health preparedness
A1  - Elsafti, Abdallah Mohamed
A1  - van Berlaer, Gerlant
A1  - Al Safadi, Mohammad
A1  - DeBacker, Michel
A1  - Buyl, Ronald
A1  - Redwan, Atef
A1  - Hubloue, Ives
SP  - 874
EP  - 882
VL  - 10
IS  - 6
N2  - OBJECTIVE: The Syrian civil war since 2011 has led to one of the most complex humanitarian emergencies in history. The objective of this study was to document the impact of the conflict on the familial, educational, and public health state of Syrian children. <br><br>METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in May 2015. Health care workers visited families with a prospectively designed data sheet in 4 Northern Syrian governorates. <br><br>RESULTS: The 1001 children included in this study originated from Aleppo (41%), Idleb (36%), Hamah (15%), and Lattakia (8%). The children's median age was 6 years (range, 0-15 years; interquartile range, 3-11 years), and 61% were boys. Almost 20% of the children were internally displaced, and 5% had deceased or missing parents. Children lacked access to safe drinking water (15%), appropriate sanitation (23%), healthy nutrition (16%), and pediatric health care providers (64%). Vaccination was inadequate in 72%. More than half of school-aged children had no access to education. Children in Idleb and Lattakia were at greater risk of having unmet public health needs. Younger children were at greater risk of having an incomplete vaccination state. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: After 4 years of civil war in Syria, children have lost parents, live in substandard life quality circumstances, and are at risk for outbreaks because of worsening vaccination states and insufficient availability of health care providers. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;page 1 of 9).<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1935-7893
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2016.165
ID  - ref1
ER  -