Information for 17452IIED

Syrian health workers in Lebanon: supporting an informal workforce in crisis
Sharif A Ismail, Adam P Coutts, Fouad M Fouad
IIED Briefing, 4 pages
Syria’s health professionals have been displaced to neighbouring countries including Jordan and Lebanon since the devastating civil war began in 2011. Our mixed-methods research focused on Lebanon, exploring the emerging phenomenon of qualified Syrians carrying out informal healthcare work to meet local needs. We found a diverse workforce practising in the informal sector, predominantly in primary care settings and as volunteers. But interviewees reported living in fear of exposure and experience wage discrimination in comparison with locals. We recommend that the Lebanese government consider limited registration for Syrian healthcare workers — enabling them to deliver services formally to Syrian refugees — and that donors radically expand the scale and scope of their support for education and training initiatives in the region to prevent the generational gap in the Syrian health workforce from growing.
Publication information
- IIED code: 17452IIED
- Published: Mar 2018 - IIED
- Area: Syria, Lebanon
- Themes: Urban, Policy and planning
- Series: IIED Briefing Papers
- ISBN: 978-1-78431-566-5
- Language:
English
Project information
Urban areas are increasingly the sites of humanitarian crises, from natural disasters to conflict and displacement. Through a programme of research, documenting and learning from experience and development of tools and approaches, IIED is working to build the knowledge and capacity to respond of humanitarian actors working in urban areas, and of urban actors facing humanitarian crises.
More at www.iied.org:
Urban Crises Learning Fund