Syrian health-care workers respond to the health needs of refugees in Turkey

In January 2018, the WHO Country Office in Turkey launched the project “Supporting the employment of Syrian personnel in the Turkish health system”. In the past 2 years, 671 Syrian staff have been recruited in cooperation with Turkey’s Ministry of Health, and have completed all necessary training for the provision of home care.

The objective of the project is to further improve the service provided to Syrian refugees, by improving the quality of primary health care, and increasing staff capability, capacity and efficiency. Busra Alomairy and Fatma Haskilo are 2 of the team members who provide much-needed services to underserved and vulnerable refugee populations, such as the elderly and disabled, within the scope of the project.

Building a new life through employment

Employment is crucial for refugees, who have had to flee their home countries to seek refuge abroad. With migration, most refugees experience financial hardship, as well as the trauma of war and loss. Employment enables refugees like Busra and Fatma to start building a life from scratch in their new host country.

Fatma, from the İzmir Community Health Support Staff (CHSS) team, works as a home care service provider, employed by the project.Talking about her work with the project, she says: “First, my self-confidence has increased. Seeing myself as a successful woman enabled me to believe in myself. … And financially it is a very good thing; as a woman, I feel very strong. Also, for my children, I will be able to provide for their needs, for their future, or their education…. I have benefited a lot from this work, not only materially but also spiritually”.

In addition to the financial relief and stability that employment offers, working to help other refugees in need brings Fatma a significant moral satisfaction. “It is very nice to help; it is a good feeling. No matter how tired I am, when I look at the beneficiaries, I forget all my tiredness. I forget everything and just want to continue being of service.”

Bringing the service to those without access

Busra, also a member of the İzmir CHSS team, provides home care services to vulnerable refugees who would otherwise have difficulty accessing the services in person. She describes a regular day in her life as a home care provider.

“When we start working, we visit houses with social workers and doctors. The doctors check to see whether the beneficiaries have any illnesses. Then we make a list of the beneficiaries we plan to visit twice a week, depending on the conditions. We call them before we go, to check whether they are available or not, and we schedule our visits accordingly. Before we go, we prepare and check our equipment, to ensure we have everything we need in the bag, and then we take our work bags and get in the car together to go and provide the services.”

Regular house visits provided by the CHSS teams do not only address physical needs. It also provides great mental relief for the beneficiaries to know that there are people who care about their needs and who will come back to offer them much-needed services, which are linguistically and culturally appropriate for the Syrian community in Turkey.

“There are refugees with disabilities, the elderly, children and small children with disabilities. We also have psychologists on the team and we support the beneficiaries in many ways,” comments Busra. “The best moments are when we call the beneficiaries before we visit them and sometimes they say, ‘We are already waiting for you,’ which is a very nice thing.”

Continuous support and capacity-building

The project, jointly run by Turkey’s Ministry of Health and the WHO Country Office in Turkey, with funding from the German government through the KfW Development Bank, offers support to enhance service provision and capacity-building through ongoing training for staff.

CHSS team members deliver essential home care services to vulnerable refugee populations in 7 provinces (Ankara, Gaziantep, Hatay, Istanbul, İzmir, Mersin and Şanlıurfa).

With financial support from the Government of Germany, through the KfW Development Bank, WHO has been running the project since January 2018. Within the scope of this project, WHO provides: