SITUATION ANALYSIS
During 2016 many health facilities were out of service due to direct damage (101 hospitals were reportedly attacked resulting in damage and destruction) or lack of medical equipment and qualifed personnel, while many people faced difficulties in accessing critical health services, especially those living in hard to reach and besieged areas.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Syria remained polio free in 2016, with over 3.5 million children immunized against polio.
• Through investments in routine immunization, just over 279,000 (58% of the target) children under one year were reached with DPT3 vaccine, some 372,000 (77%) reached with MMR, and 454,000 (94%) reached with BCG2. Three rounds of a nationwide multi-antigen accelerated immunisation campaign were conducted.
• Provisional results from the first two rounds of the multi-antigen campaigns found that 1.5 million children were reached in the first round, and over 515,000 children in the second round. Security and access constraints contributed to the reduced reach in the second round.