Location: Brussels, Belgium

Address: European Parliament

May 27, 2024

Solutions for improved competency, standardised credentials, harmonised compensation and diaspora engagement.

Syrian physicians, midwives, nurses, and technicians are the critical component of a functioning health system, caring for the most vulnerable people, often at their own risk. They operate within a nation fractured into three distinct health systems: a centralised and inequitable one in government-controlled areas, a fragmented and underfunded one in the northwest, and a neglected and underdeveloped one in the northeast. This workforce faces a dramatic shortfall, with the density of health workers in northwest Syria at 1.06 per 1,000, far below the international standard of 4.45. They are contending with sustained international migration , competitive salaries distorting the job market , a lack of reliable data for planning , and worries that their credentials will not be accepted in the event of a political solution.

So how can this vital workforce be stabilised? What are the most effective strategies to harmonise wages, harmonise credentials, and foster competency against a backdrop of donor dependency? And how can the engagement of the medical diaspora and local, ground-up initiatives contribute to long-term resilience and the coproduction of knowledge?

To discuss this topic, we were joined

• Ms. Rosa Crestani, Health Emergency Team Lead, World Health Organisation (WHO), Gaziantep

• Ms. Valeria Gholizadeh Gajkar, Country Director, Relief International

• Dr. Mansur Alatrash, Head of the Health Information System Unit

• Dr. Aula Abbara, Consultant, Syria Public Health Network

• Dr. Majd AlGhatrif, Associate Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, President of Syriana