In order to bring vital health care and other assistance to displaced Iraqis in Syria and Jordan, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is launching an appeal for 18.2 million Swiss francs (15 million US$/11.1 million euro). The funds will be used to provide up to 100,000 families (60,000 in Syria and 40,000 in Jordan) with health services over the next 12 months, including general medicine and dentistry, as well as essential psychological support.
The appeal will support the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the Jordan National Red Crescent Society in the services they provide to this population. Families will also receive food and essential items, including kitchen utensils, blankets, mattresses, pillows, sheets and hygiene articles, as well as school uniforms, stationery and books for the children.
According to the UNHCR, an estimated 1.2 million Iraqis have fled violence, criminality, inter-ethnic clashes and poverty in Iraq for Syria and some 750,000 have sought refuge in Jordan. In addition, some two million people have been displaced inside Iraq by violence, bombings and general insecurity.
“In mid-March, the International Federation sent a team to Syria and Jordan, to assess the capacities of the respective Red Crescent Societies, in relation to the humanitarian needs of the displaced Iraqi populations in these two countries,” explains Evgeni Parfenov, regional officer in the Federation’s Middle East and North Africa department in Geneva.
“According to its findings, a vital priority for Iraqi families is adequate access to health care, as well as psychological support for people who are traumatized by the horrors witnessed in Iraq and the resulting pain and suffering. This is what we have focussed this appeal on.”
Up to 22 Red Crescent basic health care centres – 12 in Syria and 10 in Jordan, will be supported with funding and medical supplies over the next 12 months. In addition, two psychosocial centres – one in Damascus and one in Amman, will be supported with funding and supplies over the next year, to help alleviate the impact of war-related trauma through specialized counselling and vocational training. Some 600 Syrian and Jordanian Red Crescent volunteers will be trained to bring psychological assistance both to displaced Iraqi families and to host families.
“The governments and people of Syria and Jordan have been generous in the assistance extended to displaced Iraqis, but the capacities and staff of many infrastructures, such as hospitals, clinics and schools, have now reached their limits, and it is vital they be supported,” underlines Ahmed Gizo, head of the Federation’s Middle East and North Africa department. “Most Iraqis crossing the borders today have very few or no resources and are in a situation of great vulnerability. Some occasionally cross back into Iraq to collect state pensions and food rations distributed in their home town, often at the peril of their life.”