health care in syria

Health care in Syria

The good news:

"There has been dramatic improvement in health indicators for Syria in

the last three decades: life expectancy at birth has increased from 56

years in 1970 to 71.7 years in 200231; infant mortality has dropped

from 123 per 1,000 live births in 1970 to 18.1 in 2001; under-five

mortality rate has dropped significantly to 20 per 1,000 live births;

maternal mortality has fallen from 482 per 100,000 live births in 1970

to 65.4 in 2002.

Access to health services has increased since the 1980s, especially in

favor of rural populations achieving better equity. Access to health

services rose from 76 percent for the period 1985-1988 to almost 90

percent in 2000. The urban-rural gap is also narrowing from 32 percent

for the period 1985-1988 to only 12 percent for the period 1990-1995.

National statistics indicate that the mean number of people served by

a single medical doctor was 683 in the year 2002 - ranging from 321 in

Damascus, the capital, to 1,849 in the eastern province of

al-Hassakeh. Government expenditure on the health sector has increased

as a proportion of total government expenditure from 1.1 percent in

1980 to 3.8 percent in 2002 (National Budget Report). No well

established system of health insurance exists in the country. A draft

proposal for a National System of Health Insurance is under study."

The bad news:

"Despite the improved capacity of the health system, there are still a

number of challenges; among these are: inadequate coordination between

different providers of health services,uneven distribution of human

resources, high turnover of skilled staff, an inadequate number of

qualified nurses, an uncontrolled and unregulated private sector,

stagnant budget allocations for health despite increasing demand and

cost, and uneven distribution of quality of health and medical