“Ten years of war! You expect people to fear a ‘germ’?”: A qualitative study of initial perceptions and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic among displaced communities in opposition-controlled northwest Syria

Douedari, Yazan; Alhaffar, Mervat; Al-Twaish, Muhammed; Mkhallalati, Hala; Alwany, Raheb; Ibrahim, Nafeesah Bte Mohamed; Zaseela, Ayshath; Horanieh, Nour; Abbara, Aula; Howard, Natasha

doi:10.1016/j.jmh.2020.100021

Cited by 34 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Although it did not appear to be possible to isolate high-risk people within households, participants suggested that ‘house-swapping approaches might work”. While the majority of participants knew enough about COVID-19 to prevent transmission, they lacked the practical tools to do so [ 77 , 78 ]. Another cross-sectional study, which assessed the knowledge towards COVID-19 pandemic among the Syrian residents showed that the general knowledge about the pandemic was about 60%, and this percentage significantly differ between the age groups, gender, and educational level [ 79 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public health consequences after ten years of the Syrian crisis: a literature review

Alhaffar

Sándor

2021

Global Health

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Ten years of the Syrian war had a devastating effect on Syrian lives, including millions of refugees and displaced people, enormous destruction in the infrastructure, and the worst economic crisis Syria has ever faced. The health sector was hit hard by this war, up to 50% of the health facilities have been destroyed and up to 70% of the healthcare providers fled the country seeking safety, which increased the workload and mental pressure for the remaining medical staff. Five databases were searched and 438 articles were included according to the inclusion criteria, the articles were divided into categories according to the topic of the article.Through this review, the current health status of the Syrian population living inside Syria, whether under governmental or opposition control, was reviewed, and also, the health status of the Syrian refugees was examined according to each host country. Public health indicators were used to summarize and categorize the information. This research reviewed mental health, children and maternal health, oral health, non-communicable diseases, infectious diseases, occupational health, and the effect of the COVID − 19 pandemic on the Syrian healthcare system. The results of the review are irritating, as still after ten years of war and millions of refugees there is an enormous need for healthcare services, and international organization has failed to respond to those needs. The review ended with the current and future challenges facing the healthcare system, and suggestions about rebuilding the healthcare system.Through this review, the major consequences of the Syrian war on the health of the Syrian population have been reviewed and highlighted. Considerable challenges will face the future of health in Syria which require the collaboration of the health authorities to respond to the growing needs of the Syrian population. This article draws an overview about how the Syrian war affected health sector for Syrian population inside and outside Syria after ten years of war which makes it an important reference for future researchers to get the main highlight of the health sector during the Syrian crisis.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public health consequences after ten years of the Syrian crisis: a literature review

Alhaffar

Sándor

2021

Global Health

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“…That study suggests health actors should provide soap and face masks and promote individual family tented dwellings to allow physical distancing, while observing that a safe return to their homes would allow IDPs to practice COVID-19 prevention without external assistance ( Claude et al., 2020 ). Likewise, although IDPs in Syrian tented settlements displayed adequate knowledge of COVID-19, they lacked the means to prevent transmission due to insufficient water and cleaning supplies, or through ‘shielding’ due to constraints such as overcrowding ( Douedari et al., 2020 ).…”

Section: Review Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the health needs of internally displaced persons: A scoping review

Cantor

Swartz

Roberts

et al. 2021

Journal of Migration and Health

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“…The aim of this study is to describe the lived experiences and meaning-making of Russian-, Somali-and Arabic-speaking migrants in relation to COVID-19, and their everyday responses to the threat of the virus. Although migrant populations' vulnerability during the pandemic has been acknowledged in the literature, most of the previous research that we have traced has been quantitative (for an exception, see e.g., [8,15]). Our study fills this gap.…”

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Lived experience related to the COVID-19 pandemic among Arabic-, Russian- and Somali-speaking migrants in Finland

Finell¹,

Tiilikainen²,

Jasinskaja‐Lahti³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Increasing research shows that migrants are disproportionally exposed to COVID-19 disease. However, little is known about their lived experience and related meaning-making. This qualitative study maps COVID-19-related experiences among respondents from three migrant groups living in Finland: Somali-, Arabic- and Russian-speakers (N = 209). The data was collected by telephone interviews over four weeks in March and April 2020. Using inductive thematical analysis, we identified seven themes that illustrate respondents’ multifaceted lived experiences during the first phase of pandemic. The themes depict respondents’ difficulties and fears, but also their resilience and resources to cope, both individually and collectively. Experiences varied greatly between individuals and migrant groups. The main conclusion is that although the COVID-19 pandemic may be an especially stressful experience for migrant populations, it may also provide opportunities to deepen cooperation and trust within migrant communities, and between migrants and their country of settlement. Our analysis suggests that cooperation between local authorities and migrants, trust-building and effective information-sharing can foster positive and functional adaptations to disease-related threats and changing social environments.

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“Ten years of war! You expect people to fear a ‘germ’?”: A qualitative study of initial perceptions and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic among displaced communities in opposition-controlled northwest Syria

Cited by 34 publications

References 26 publications

Public health consequences after ten years of the Syrian crisis: a literature review

Public health consequences after ten years of the Syrian crisis: a literature review

Understanding the health needs of internally displaced persons: A scoping review

Lived experience related to the COVID-19 pandemic among Arabic-, Russian- and Somali-speaking migrants in Finland

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