Attachments
Overall Findings
Syria’s north-western Idleb hosts the second largest IDP population after Rural Damascus. Three of the communities assessed in Idleb had no pre-conflict population remaining on the last day of November: Um Elkhalayel (Tamanaah sub-district), Nasra (Janudiyeh sub-district) and Jamiliya (Darkosh sub-district). These communities have not been assessed for a majority of indicators displayed in these factsheets. Members of the pre-conflict population left Um Elkhalayel and Um Jalal due to an escalation of conflict, and Big Khwein due to protection concerns. All three communities are located in the south-eastern sub-district of Tamanaah. Conversely, four communities witnessed spontaneous returns in November, with family reunification reported as one of the main reasons for return. In the three communities to which refugees returned, all returnees were reportedly returning from Turkey. In Kafraziba (Ariha sub-district), IDPs returned from Harim sub-district within Idleb governorate. IDPs were present in 141 out of the 143 assessed communities, with 10 communities reporting the presence of over 10,000 IDPs. Dana (70,000), Idleb (39,500) and Ma’arrat Tamasrin (34,500) reported the largest estimated IDP numbers, and all 10 communities with the exception of Idleb city reported new arrivals in November. Despite large IDP numbers within Idleb, all but one community reported that IDPs lived in independent or shared houses/apartments. For more detailed information about displacement patterns in Idleb governorate in November, please refer to the REACH Syria IDP Situation Monitoring Initiative.
Of the communities assessed in November, 43 reported that no health facilities were available in their area, and three communities (Almokblah and Thaheriya in Ariha sub-district and Aqrabat in Idleb sub-district) reported that IDPs had less access to healthcare than other parts of the population. Of the communities assessed, 21 reported that garbage was either buried, burned or left in the public areas. Twelve of these communities reported that acute respiratory infections were common health concerns in their community.
In assessed communities in Idleb, 34% reported that residents experienced challenges in accessing sufficient amounts of food. In all 49 communities, residents reportedly either lacked sufficient funds to purchase available food or were unable to buy food due to the high cost of some items. IDPs in Thaheriya (Ariha sub-district) reportedly had less access to food than some other parts of the population. The most common sources of income in these 49 communities were agriculture, business or trade and unstable, daily employment. Close to half of the assessed communities reported that children were sent to work or beg to supplement insufficient household incomes. In Big Khwein this reportedly affected 1 - 5-year old’s, while 14 other communities reported that some 5-9-year old children were working or begging in November. Big Khwein was also the only community to report the use of extreme food-based coping strategies, such as spending days without eating and eating non-ediible plants. Nonetheless, most children in 90% of assessed communities accessed education in November.