A Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) mobile clinic team is responding to the growing needs in Idlib province, as more than 150,000 people have fled intense bombing and shelling in northwestern Syria since April 29. The team is assisting newly displaced families in makeshift camps. Living conditions are deteriorating due to increased overcrowding and the lack of basic services.
The mobile clinic team recently carried out more than 300 medical consultations, and MSF personnel are distributing emergency items such as mattresses and blankets to families who lost everything when they fled. MSF is preparing to increase its activities in the coming days.
Some MSF patients described walking for days to escape bombing and shelling. Many families are dealing with the trauma of their communities being bombed and being forced to flee, while struggling to find adequate shelter and basic necessities. Even as relief activities are underway, the MSF team is witnessing families with young children sleeping under trees and multiple families packed into overcrowded tents.
Water scarcity is a major concern. MSF is delivering thousands of liters of water to newly displaced people in several locations and will soon set up latrines in the makeshift camps.
Earlier this year, MSF carried out a vaccination campaign in 50 schools in Idlib, protecting 6,200 children against tetanus and diphtheria.
