Physicians for Human Rights

The Syrian government has besieged Madaya, a small town controlled by opposition forces an hour’s drive from Damascus, trapping residents inside without access to supplies, food, or services outside the town since July 2015, in violation of international humanitarian law. With inadequate food stores and medical care, 40,000 residents have suffered from starvation and malnutrition, and succumbed to disease, traumatic injury, and other life-threatening conditions.

Attacks in Syria have contributed to an immense shortage of health care throughout the country, claiming the lives of more than 700 medical professionals and driving thousands more to flee. In Aleppo, reports have estimated that of the 2,000 physicians who once operated medical care in the nation’s most populous city, forty remain.

In a report released Wednesday, the group, Physicians for Human Rights, chronicled 45 attacks on medical facilities in Aleppo since 2012, mostly by Syrian government forces.

Health professionals, facilities, and patients are regularly targeted by violence and restrictive legislation in situations of conflict and civil unrest, according to an online, interactive world map of attacks on health published today by PHR.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) invites you to the launch of the Syria Mapping Project, an interactive tool developed by PHR to document attacks against health professionals, facilities, patients, and transport in Syria. PHR will be releasing its online map at two events in Washington, DC on May 15 and May 16.