As winter arrives in Syria – a country already grappling with fuel shortages, severe poverty, and more than 11 years of war – Idlib’s healthcare workers are braving the cold, trying to slow the spread of a months-long cholera outbreak.
As of 3 December, there had been nearly 57,000 suspected cases and 98 deaths across Syria since the government of President Bashar al-Assad announced its first official case of cholera in early September.
The outbreak, linked to the consumption of contaminated water from the Euphrates River, combined with low water levels in northern Syria, has also hit neighbouring Lebanon.
While the wave of infections began in northeast Syria and the disease continues to thrive there, it has now spread to all parts of the country, taking a strong hold in rebel-held Idlib – now the country’s second most-affected province, with more than 12,000 suspected cases.
Idlib and other parts of the northwest are home to 4.6 million people, most of whom were forced to flee their homes elsewhere in Syria. At least 1.7 million live in camps; these are often informal settlements with overcrowded conditions, no running water, and open sewage.
While slowing cholera in the very conditions that allow it to thrive may sound like an uphill battle, healthcare staff like 40-year-old Ibrahim Ahmad al-Alawy, who works for the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM), a coalition of groups that provide medical care in Syria, are determined to try.
The father of four, who was forced to flee his home in Hama at the start of Syria’s war, lives with his wife and children in an Idlib camp. He studied and worked as a computer engineer, but decided to study nursing after he saw the acute needs in his war-torn community.
Photographer Muhammad al-Hosse spent one day last month with al-Alawy and his team as they went door to door, tent to tent, to spot possible cholera cases, spreading awareness about the disease and helping ordinary people understand what to do to keep themselves safe.
It’s a tough job — the people al-Alawy visits often need a lot more than he can offer — they ask him for food, money, and help with things he simply can’t provide. But he still feels it’s worth it, because of what he can do.
“My role as a health worker is very important. It’s essential for the well-being of the community. I work to raise awareness, change bad habits, inform people about the services we provide, and help them prevent infectious diseases,” he says. “I’m happy when I can help people overcome the difficult circumstances they are living in, at least when it comes to disease prevention.”
Source: The New Humanitarian