Navigating the Aftermath: The Complex Landscape of COVID-19 in Northwest Syria

Year 2023, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 153 - 163, 26.12.2023

Orwa Al-abdulla Maher Alaref

https://doi.org/10.52675/jhesp.1342517

Cited By: 1

Abstract

In the aftermath of the global upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a nuanced perspective emerges, underscoring the need for vigilant and strategic healthcare responses. This article delves into the intricate landscape of COVID-19 within northwest Syria, highlighting the enduring challenges and the imperative for astute resource allocation, sustained vaccination efforts, and effective Risk Communication and Community Engagement programs. Situated within a region characterized by historical complexities and ongoing conflict, Northwest Syria remains a microcosm of persistent healthcare challenges. While the pandemic classification may shift, its lingering impact necessitates ongoing vigilance. This article explores the multifaceted dimensions of the prevailing COVID-19 scenario in Northwest Syria, emphasizing the crucial role of resource allocation, vaccination strategies, and Risk Communication and Community Engagement programs in forging resilient health systems. The imperative of vaccination, coupled with the formidable challenge of hesitancy, underscores the need for targeted and adaptable Risk Communication and Community Engagement initiatives. Drawing lessons from past shortcomings, Northwest Syria is poised to recalibrate its approach, fostering a blueprint for future crises that is attuned to community sentiments and responsive to evolving challenges. As Northwest Syria navigates the path to recovery, a comprehensive and adaptive response strategy anchored in effective Risk Communication and Community Engagement programs becomes a linchpin, guiding the region towards fortified health systems and improved public health conditions.

Keywords

Syria, COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy, risk communication, community engagement

Supporting Institution

Strategic Research Center ÖZ SRC

Thanks

This article was undertaken in cooperation with the Strategic Research Center ÖZ SRC

References

• Al-Abdulla, O., Alaref, M. (2022). The forgotten threat of cholera in Syria. Journal of Water and Health, 20, 1755-1760.
• Al-Abdulla, O., Ekzayez, A., Kallström, A., Valderrama, C., Alaref, M., Kauhanen, J. (2023). Health system recovery in Northwest Syria – challenges and operationalization. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10, 1-10.
• Al-Abdulla, O., Kallström, A. (2023). Community engagement and adherence to COVID-19 prevention measures in Northwest Syria: A systematic review. Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 1-18.
• Alhaffar, M., Douedari, Y., Howard, N. (2023). “In general people aren’t excited about the vaccine…”: Frontline perspectives on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy across Syria. Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics, 19, 2235239.
• Alhaffar, M., Mkhallalati, H., Alhiraki, O. A., Marzouk, M., Khanshour, A., Douedari, Y., Howard, N. (2022). “They cannot afford to feed their children and the advice is to stay home. How ..?”: A qualitative study of community experiences of COVID-19 response efforts across Syria. PLoS ONE, 17, e0277215.
• Alhassan, R. K., Nketiah-Amponsah, E., Afaya, A., Salia, S. M., Abuosi, A. A., Nutor, J. J. (2023). Global Health Security Index not a proven surrogate for health systems capacity to respond to pandemics: The case of COVID-19. Journal of Infection and Public Health, 16, 196-205.
• Alkhalil, M., Alaref, M., Mkhallalati, H., Alzoubi, Z., Ekzayez, A. (2022). An analysis of humanitarian and health aid alignment over a decade (2011–2019) of the Syrian conflict. Conflict and Health, 16, 1-13.
• Alsalem, M. A., Mohammed, R., Albahri, O. S., Zaidan, A. A., Alamoodi, A. H., Dawood, K., Alnoor, A., Albahri, A. S., Zaidan, B. B., Aickelin, U., Alsattar, H., Alazab, M., Jumaah, F. (2022). Rise of multiattribute decision- making in combating COVID-19: A systematic review of the state-of-the-art literature. International Journal of Intelligent Systems, 37, 3514-3624.
• Barnard, I. K., Winter, C. (2023). Reframing Jihadism: Deciphering the identity, politics, and agenda of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in Northwest Syria. Khalil, J.F., Khiabany G., Guaaybess, T., Yesil B. (Ed.), The Handbook of Media and Culture in the Middle East (396-413 pp.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Chowdhury, R., Luhar, S., Khan, N., Choudhury, S. R., Matin, I., Franco, O. H. (2020). Long-term strategies to control COVID-19 in low and middle-income countries: An options overview of community-based, non- pharmacological interventions. European Journal of Epidemiology, 35, 743-748.
• Douedari, Y., Alhaffar, M., Al-Twaish, M., Mkhallalati, H., Alwany, R., Ibrahim, N. B. M., Zaseela, A., Horanieh, N., Abbara, A., Howard, N. (2020). “Ten years of war! You expect people to fear a ‘germ’?”: A qualitative study of initial perceptions and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic among displaced communities in opposition- controlled northwest Syria. Journal of Migration and Health, 1, 100021.
• Ekzayez, A., Al-Khalil, M., Jasiem, M., Al Saleh, R., Alzoubi, Z., Meagher, K., Patel, P. (2020). COVID-19 response in northwest Syria: Innovation and community engagement in a complex conflict. Journal of Public Health, 42, 504-509.
• Foroughi, Z., Ebrahimi, P., Aryankhesal, A., Maleki, M., Yazdani, S. (2022). Toward a theory-led meta- framework for implementing health system resilience analysis studies: A systematic review and critical interpretive synthesis. BMC Public Health, 22, 1-13.
• Garry, S., Checchi, F. (2020). Armed conflict and public health: Into the 21st century. Journal of Public Health (United Kingdom), 42, e287-e298.
• Habboush, A., Ekzayez, A., Gilmore, B. (2023). A framework for community health worker optimisation in conflict settings: Prerequisites and possibilities from Northwest Syria. BMJ Global Health, 8, e011837.
• Hanafi, I., Alzamel, L., Alnabelsi, O., Sallam, S., Almousa, S. (2023). Lessons learnt from the first wave of COVID-19 in Damascus, Syria: A multicentre retrospective cohort study. BMJ Open, 13, e065280.
• Harris, E. (2023). WHO declares end of COVID-19 global health emergency. JAMA, 329, 1817.
• Jabbour, S., Abbara, A., Ekzayez, A., Fouad, F. M., Katoub, M., Nasser, R. (2023). The catastrophic response to the earthquake in Syria: The need for corrective actions and accountability. The Lancet, 401, 802-805.
• John, T., Cordova, K. E., Jackson, C. T., Hernández-Mondragón, A. C., Davids, B. L., Raheja, L., Milić, J. V., Borges, J. (2023). Engaging early-career scientists in global policy-making. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 62, e202217841.
• Karaca, B., Çelik, B. (2022). Evaluation of the opinions of patients applying to the emergency department in the north of Syria about COVID-19 vaccine. Archives of Current Medical Research, 3, 199-207.
• Khan, S., Mishra, J., Ahmed, N., Onyige, C. D., Lin, K. E., Siew, R., Lim, B. H. (2022). Risk communication and community engagement during COVID-19. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 74, 102903.
• Marzo, R. R., Ahmad, A., Islam, M. S., Essar, M. Y., Heidler, P., King, I., Thiyagarajan, A., Jermsittiparsert, K., Songwathana, K., Younus, D. A., El-Abasiri, R. A., Kucuk Bicer, B., Pham, N., Respati, T., Fitriyana, S., Martinez Faller, E., Baldonado, A. M., Billah, M. A., Aung, Y., Hassan, S.M., Asad, M.M., El-Fass, K.A., Bhattacharya, S., Shrestha, S., Elsayed Hamza, N.A., Friedmann P., Head, M., Lin, Y., Yi, S. (2022). Perceived COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, acceptance, and drivers of vaccination decision-making among the general adult population: A global survey of 20 countries. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 16, e0010103.
• Marzouk, M., Alhiraki, O. A., Aguas, R., Gao, B., Clapham, H., Obaid, W., Altaleb, H., Almhawish, N., Rihawi, H., Abbara, A., Douedari, Y., Hariri, M., Howard, N., CoMo Consortium. (2022). SARSCoV 2 transmission in opposition-controlled Northwest Syria: modeling pandemic responses during political conflict. International Journal of Infectious Diseases : IJID : Official Publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, 117, 103-115.
• Mills, L., Thindwa, J. (2022). Social accountability for a strong COVID-19 recovery: A review and analysis of the role of civil society.
• Mobarak, A. M., Miguel, E., Abaluck, J., Ahuja, A., Alsan, M., Banerjee, A., Breza, E., Chandrasekhar, A.G, Duflo, E., Dzansi, J., Garrett, D., Goldsmith-Pinkham, P., Gonsalves, G., Hossain, M.M., Jakubowski, A., Kang, G., Kharel, A., Kremer, M., Meriggi, N., Nekesa, C., Olken, B.A., Omer, S.B., Qadri, F., Rees, H., Salako, B., Voors, M., Marren S., Więcek, W. (2022). End COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries. Science, 375, 1105-1110.
• OCHA. (2023). COVID-19 monthly update Northwest Syria–Syrian Arab Republic. (Access Address: https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/covid-19-monthly-update- northwest-syria) (Access Date: December 31, 2022)
• Pollock, W., Wartman, J., Abou-Jaoude, G., Grant, A. (2019). Risk at the margins: A natural hazards perspective on the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 36, 101037.
• Sahoo, K. C., Sahay, M. R., Dubey, S., Nayak, S., Negi, S., Mahapatra, P., Bhattacharya, D., Barrio, M. O. Del, Pati, S. (2023). Community engagement and involvement in managing the COVID-19 pandemic among urban poor in low-and middle-income countries: A systematic scoping review and stakeholders mapping. Global Health Action, 16, 2133723.
• Soriano, J. B., Infante, A. (2023). Aiming for the end of the COVID-19 pandemic: The what, how, who, where, and when. Chinese Medical Journal, 136, 1-3.
• Swed, S., Baroudi, I., Ezzdean, W., Sawaf, B., Bohsas, H., Patwary, M. M. (2022). COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among people in Syria: An incipient crisis. Annals of Medicine and Surgery, 75, 103324.
• Vazquez, C., Valiente, C., García, F. E., Contreras, A., Peinado, V., Trucharte, A., Bentall, R. P. (2021). Post- traumatic growth and stress-related responses during the COVID-19 pandemic in a national representative sample: The role of positive core beliefs about the world and others. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22, 2915-2935.
• Wise, J. (2023). Covid-19: WHO declares end of global health emergency. BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 381, 1041.
• Yuda, T. K., Munir, M. (2023). Social insecurity and varieties of family resilience strategies during the COVID- 19 pandemic. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 43, 756-776.
• Zhu, R., Song, Y., He, S., Hu, X., Hu, W., Liu, B. (2022). Toward dialogue through a holistic measuring framework– the impact of social media on risk communication in the COVID-19. Information Technology and People, 35, 2518-2540.