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The travesty which is Syria

With horrific news in the last 24 hours about the gassing atrocity seemingly perpetrated by Assad on his own people, Syria is back on the front pages of the news.     

This report from Medicins Sans Frontieres puts things into context in the strife-ridden country.

"For six long years, war has waged across Syria, resulting in an unprecedented 4.8 million people becoming refugees. The responsibility to care for this refugee population falls largely to Syria’s neighbours. Inside Syria, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees have some overwhelming numbers. They report that 13.5 million people are in direct need of medical and humanitarian assistance. More than six million have been forced from their homes and are now internally displaced due to shifting battle lines, armed groups and militia; and 4.3 million people are categorised as ‘’hard to reach’’ - a humanitarian euphemism used when getting information from communities is limited and thus the likelihood of the population accessing sufficient protection, food, shelter, water or healthcare is extremely low. The effects of war have not been limited to frontlines or battle grounds. It does not only comprise of indiscriminate bombings of civilians, hospitals and cities causing catastrophic blast injuries and deaths. War has also insidiously crept into every consultation room, every hospital bed and every health post and clinic in the areas indirectly affected by the Syrian crisis over the last six years."

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