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The Ongoing Syrian Arab Republic Health Care Crisis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2017

Steven J. Phillips*
Affiliation:
Specialized Information Services, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Steven J. Phillips, MD (retired), Associate Director for Specialized Information Services, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 301496-3127 (e-mail: [email protected]).

Abstract

Prior to the Syrian civil war, access and delivery of health care and health care information over the past 4 decades had steadily improved. The life expectancy of the average Syrian in 2012 was 75.7 years, compared to 56 years in 1970. As a result of the civil war, this trend has reversed, with the life expectancy reduced by 20 years from the 2012 level. The Syrian government and its allies have specifically targeted the health care infrastructure not under government control. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:23–25)

Type
Brief Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2017 

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