Syrian crisis: WHO's response in and from Turkey

A Turkish doctor, left, works with Syrian doctors trained by WHO. They are treating a Syrian refugee baby, right.

Years of conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic have resulted in hundreds of thousands of people being injured or ill or killed, vast movements of population, and infrastructure, including hospitals, being extensively damaged. Over 13 million people are in need of humanitarian aid within the country, more than 6.5 million are internally displaced and over 5.5 million people have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, of whom more than 3.6 million are in Turkey.

The WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE) has provided assistance on an enormous scale to meet extraordinary health needs in and from Turkey. Under the whole-of-Syria approach, WHO and its health partners provide cross-border health services to populations in northern Syria from Gaziantep, Turkey, on the basis of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2393. The WHO Country Office for Turkey in Ankara helps provide a vast range of services to the 3.6 million Syrian refugees living inside Turkey.