Supporting the redeployment of health services in North-East Syria: a positive assessment for the HERNES project
From 2013 to 2017, a large part of the north-east region of Syria was under the yoke of the Islamic State. The occupation of the territory by ISIS and the conflict for its liberation conducted by the members of the international coalition and its allies between 2015 and 2019 caused massive destruction. This has considerably weakened economic activity and access to basic services such as health, education, water and electricity.
It is in this context that Expertise France launched the HERNES (HEalth Recovery in North-East Syria) project in 2019. It is financed by the European Union and the Crisis and Support Centre (CDCS) of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. The objective is to support primary and secondary healthcare services in order to increase the resilience of populations and medical staff in North-East Syria.
This project aims to improve people’s living conditions by facilitating the gradual restoration of essential services and the recovery of economic activity through the strengthening of healthcare services, in partnership with a local NGO specialised in the provision of healthcare services in North-East Syria.
After over two years of implementation, two studies have made an assessment of the project:
• A study concerning the project’s impact on the stabilisation of the area and the return of populations in the Raqqa and Deir-Ez-Zor regions;
• A final evaluation highlighting the project’s outcomes.
The data from these studies show, on the whole, the achievement of the project’s initial objectives and the satisfaction of the people benefiting from services in the health centres supported by the HERNES project.
Healthcare service provision a driver for the stabilisation of the area
One of the objectives of the stabilisation activities is to create favourable conditions for the return of displaced populations. Expertise France consequently wanted to measure the project’s contribution to creating favourable conditions for the return of populations, as well as the improvement in their quality of life.
The “Project Impact on Stabilisation in Raqqa and Deir-Ez-Zor” report consequently examines people’s perceptions of the services provided by the project in terms of access and quality and how this contributed to their decision to settle in the area.
It shows that the vast majority of beneficiaries have a positive perception of the services provided and find there has been an improvement in access to the services, with better quality services that meet their needs, since the project was set up. It should be noted that the absence of discrimination and equal access to the services is one of the main factors of people’s positive perception of these services.
Several beneficiaries mentioned the relevance of the campaigns conducted by the centres to raise awareness of health issues and inform people who live far from urban centres about the services provided by the centres.
In terms of the project’s contribution to the willingness of displaced people to settle in the target areas, the interviews conducted confirm that many factors are taken into account to decide whether to settle permanently in the area: job opportunities, housing, security in the region, access to food, water, but also access to health services, which is the most important factor for the decision on whether to settle there, according to the people interviewed during the study.
A final assessment with indicators much higher than the objectives initially set
The final evaluation of the project confirms the positive perception of the services and shows that all the objectives have been achieved, with some exceeded. Using qualitative and quantitative measurements, the evaluation finds that the majority of the services provided (87%) are of good quality, in terms of patient satisfaction, the cleanliness of the centres and medical waste management. For maternal and child health, the study also notes a major improvement in care. For example, 80% of the patients interviewed said that they had had at least 4 prenatal consultations during their last pregnancy, compared to 57% previously.
A total of over 6,000 deliveries and over 500,000 consultations have been made possible by the project.
