The cascading impacts of attacks on health in Syria: A qualitative study of health system and community impacts

Syria has experienced over a decade of armed conflict, characterized by targeted violence against healthcare. The impacts of these attacks have resulted in both direct and indirect attacks on health and reverberating effects on local communities. This study aims to explore the perspectives of health workers based in northern Syria who have experienced such attacks on health to understand the impacts on the health system as well as communities served. In-depth interviews were conducted with health workers in the northern regions of Syria where attacks on health have been frequent. Participants were identified using purposive and snowball sampling. Interviews were coded and analyzed using the Framework Method. Our inductive and deductive codes aligned closely with the WHO Health System Building Blocks framework, and we therefore integrated this framing into the presentation of findings. We actively sought to include female and non-physician health workers as both groups have been under-represented in previous research in northern Syria. A total of 40 health workers (32.5% female, 77.5% non-physicians) who experienced attacks in northern Syria between 2013 and 2020 participated in interviews in 2020-2021. Participants characterized attacks on health as frequent, persistent over years, and strategically targeted. The attacks had both direct and indirect impacts on the health system and consequently the wider health of the community. For the health system, participants noted compounded impacts on the delivery of care, health system governance, and challenges to financing, workforce, and infrastructure. Reconstructing health facilities or planning services in the aftermath of attacks on health was challenging due to poor health system governance and resource challenges. These impacts had ripple effects on the health of the community, particularly the most vulnerable. The impacts of attacks on health in Syria are multiple, with both short- and long-term consequences for the health system(s) across Syria as well as the health of communities in these respective areas. Though such attacks against healthcare are illegal under international humanitarian law, this and other legal frameworks have led to little accountability in the face of such attacks both in Syria and elsewhere. Characterizing their impacts is essential to improving our understanding of the consequences of attacks as a public health issue and supporting protection and advocacy efforts.