الشتاء القاسي والكوليرا في شمال غرب سوريا تعيق وصول الطلاب إلى المدارس

Children in NW Syria at grave danger amid the cholera outbreak and the onset of the harsh winter – Syrian humanitarians warn.

• Thousands of children in northwest Syria are denied access to proper healthcare and education, having to live under the threat of cholera amid harsh living conditions and a worsening economy.

The past winter seasons saw people, who had already been displaced by bombardment, forced again from their tents as camps were flooded by heavy rain snowstorms.

• This year, an outbreak of cholera, continuous shelling and bombardment, and funding shortages pose a dangerous prelude to the deepening education and livelihood crisis for the millions of civilians in northwest Syria, including at least 1,073,932 children enroll at school.

Cholera has made a comeback in all of Syria, and if not stopped, it is expected to have a catastrophic impact on the country’s healthcare and sanitation infrastructure, already been devastated by years of bombing and COVID.

• In the northwest, it Is very alarming that no emergency funds have been allocated to respond to this crisis and offer minimum protection to school children by sterilizing water sources, raising concerns among families that their children will be exposed to the disease and leaving many with no other choice than to drop their children from schools to protect them (According to ACU, at least 800,000 children are out of schools in northwest Syria).