title: Children in the Syrian Civil War: the Familial, Educational, and Public Health Impact of Ongoing Violence.
abstract: The Syrian civil war since 2011 has led to one of the most complex humanitarian emergencies in history. The objective of this study was to document the impact of the conflict on the familial, educational, and public health state of Syrian children.
  
  
  
  A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in May 2015. Health care workers visited families with a prospectively designed data sheet in 4 Northern Syrian governorates.
  
  
  
  The 1001 children included in this study originated from Aleppo (41%), Idleb (36%), Hamah (15%), and Lattakia (8%). The children's median age was 6 years (range, 0-15 years; interquartile range, 3-11 years), and 61% were boys. Almost 20% of the children were internally displaced, and 5% had deceased or missing parents. Children lacked access to safe drinking water (15%), appropriate sanitation (23%), healthy nutrition (16%), and pediatric health care providers (64%). Vaccination was inadequate in 72%. More than half of school-aged children had no access to education. Children in Idleb and Lattakia were at greater risk of having unmet public health needs. Younger children were at greater risk of having an incomplete vaccination state.
  
  
  
  After 4 years of civil war in Syria, children have lost parents, live in substandard life quality circumstances, and are at risk for outbreaks because of worsening vaccination states and insufficient availability of health care providers. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:874-882).
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Emergency Medicine,Hamad Medical Corporation,Doha,Qatar.
authors.forename: Abdallah Mohamed
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Elsafti
authors.affiliation: 3Department of Emergency Medicine,Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, and Research Group on Emergency and Disaster Medicine,Vrije Universiteit Brussel,Brussels,Belgium.
authors.forename: Gerlant
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van Berlaer
authors.affiliation: 4Qatar Red Crescent,Turkey Mission,Gaziantep,Turkey.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al Safadi
authors.affiliation: 3Department of Emergency Medicine,Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, and Research Group on Emergency and Disaster Medicine,Vrije Universiteit Brussel,Brussels,Belgium.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Debacker
authors.affiliation: 5Department of Public Health,Biostatistics and Medical Informatics Research Group,Vrije Universiteit Brussel,Brussels,Belgium.
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Buyl
authors.affiliation: 2Faculty of Arab Diploma of Disaster Medicine,Arab Institute of Continuing Professional Development,Arab Medical Union,Cairo,Egypt.
authors.forename: Atef
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Redwan
authors.affiliation: 3Department of Emergency Medicine,Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, and Research Group on Emergency and Disaster Medicine,Vrije Universiteit Brussel,Brussels,Belgium.
authors.forename: Ives
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hubloue
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004493:Education / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013593:Syria; D014857:Warfare
keywords: Syria; children; civil war; education; public health