Cologne: Despite the temporary ceasefire that prevails following the conclusion of the Siege of Aleppo in favor of government forces, countless numbers of people in northern Syria remain in desperate need of humanitarian aid. Vast swathes of Syria’s medical infrastructure have been destroyed during the almost six years of civil war which have laid waste to the country.
A Malteser International emergency hospital at the Syrian-Turkish border, erected in cooperation with a Syrian partner organization, serves to provide vital medical services to some of the thousands of internally displaced people who have fled to the region to seek safety from the fighting. Each month, the hospital provides medical supervision for the births of more than one hundred children.
Malteser International has been working to assist the civilian population in war-torn Syria since summer 2012, with a particular emphasis on providing support to the internally displaced people either unable or unwilling to leave their homeland. Malteser International is responsible for organizing cross-border medical aid projects in close cooperation with local partner organizations in Syria in Turkey. The difficult security situation on the ground makes providing this aid a tremendous challenge, which can only be met at grave risk to those who provide it.