Primary and referral health services for Syrian refugees in Iraq get a boost, thanks to a new contribution from the US Department of States- BPRM

The contribution targeted a package of advanced quality health and emergency referral services including supporting a hospital in each of the mentioned governorates with 24/7 curative care and lifesaving emergency referrals for both refugees and host communities.

The support also included maintaining surveillance activities for the timely detection, verification, and response to common communicable disease outbreaks in both refugees and hosting communities through the early warning and response network (EWARN).

“WHO appreciates the new contribution from the BPRM which is going to help us maintain our support to the primary and referral health facilities serving the Syrian refugees and vulnerable host communities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq,” said Dr. Adham R. Ismail Abdel Moniem, Acting WHO Representative in Iraq.

“WHO, the national health authorities and some selected health partners have, so far, been coordinating the provision of basic health care services for refugees in the country, but additional supplies of medicines and medical technologies are still required; which is where we are going to intervene to avail,” Dr. Abdel Moniem added.

The number of Syrian refugees in Iraq has increased drastically over the past few weeks due to the Turkish operation in Northern Syria.

Approximately 15,000 newly arrived refugees were added to the current load of a quarter of a million in 2018. They are distributed to governorates of Erbil, Dahuk, and Sulaymaniyah in the KR-I, with nearly 37% hosted in camps while 63% are residing in non-camp settings in urban areas.

This scale-up in the number of refugees required urgent extended humanitarian support in terms of food, proper shelter, and health services. The new BPRM contribution has come at the right time to assist WHO accommodate the increasing basic to emergency health needs of the vulnerable refugee community in Iraq.

It is worth mentioning that in 2018, WHO received a similar contribution of US$ 2.5 million from the US BPRM to increase the health security and resilience of Syrian refugees living in Iraq.

In addition to supporting the primary health care services in the nine Syrian refugee camps, the previous grant funded the establishment of the Semi-Intensive Care Unit (SICU) at Heevi Pediatric Hospital in Dohuk Governorate in July 2019 and the Gastroenterology Unit and Neonatal Special Care Unit in Raparin Pediatric Hospital in Erbil Governorate in September this year as well.

WHO would like to express its gratitude to the US Department of States Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (BPRM) for their continued support which enabled WHO and partners to maintain quality health care delivery and emergency referral services to all Syrian refugees in Iraq.

For more information, please contact:

• Ajyal Sultany, WHO Communications Officer, (+964) 7740 892 878, sultanya@who.int
• Pauline Ajello, WHO Communications Officer, (+964) 7729 877 288, ajellopa@who.in
• Holly Wilkerson, Program Officer – Iraq, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration email: WilkersonHD@state.gov
• Ms. Kerstin Bycroft, WHO HQ, +41 22 791 1072, bycroftk@who.int