NEW YORK/CAIRO, 17 March 2025—For fourteen years, Syrians have known little but war and fear. Yet, late last year as the country took steps towards political transition, a fragile hope began to emerge. For many, that hope was shattered on 6 March, when conflict reignited in parts of Hama, Homs, Latakia and Tartous governorates, once again plunging communities into fear and uncertainty.
I was in Syria when the latest violence broke out, completing a visit to Damascus and Homs. There, I met with women grappling with the exhaustion of war. Women like Amina, who lost her husband during the conflict, and raised her seven children single-handedly, fighting to keep them in school even when finding food and shelter was a struggle.
One of the many ugly legacies of this war has been the debilitated health system: four in ten hospitals and health clinics have been damaged or destroyed, and extreme funding shortages have made rebuilding impossible. Pregnant women struggle to access basic reproductive healthcare services, making birth perilous. Even before recent US funding cuts, more than 100 UN-supported health facilities in North-West Syria had run out of funding. Now, even more are at risk of closure, cutting off hundreds of thousands of women from the reproductive healthcare that is their right.
The normalisation of gender-based violence is another dark legacy of war, with women and girls throughout Syria facing a persistent risk of sexual violence. Yet funding shortages mean UNFPA will need to withdraw its support for Women’s Safe Spaces over coming months, leaving women and girls to face the consequences alone.
Conflict does not only leave physical scars, it also inflicts deep mental trauma with intergenerational consequences. Every day, UNFPA and our partners work to support psychosocial services for women, girls and youth in Syria. Through our women and girls safe spaces, youth centres and mobile health teams, we are providing vital psychosocial support, counselling and psychological first aid to help them heal and move forward with their lives.
These are deeply uncertain times for Syria, but I left the country with apprehension alongside hope. Hope in the Syrian people who are defying the odds to help each other, despite immense hardship. In Damascus and Homs, I met extraordinary women working in civil society organizations —providing lifesaving sexual and reproductive health services, protecting survivors of violence, offering vocational training - even while they themselves are vulnerable.
Women and youth in Syria still need our support. Addressing humanitarian needs in this fragile context is key to successful transition, sustainable solutions and peace in the future. At the Ninth International Conference in Support of Syria, happening today in Brussels, we call on donors to invest in healthcare, protection, livelihoods and education, so that hope among Syrians can not only endure but grow.
About UNFPA in Syria
UNFPA works with local partners to deliver reproductive health and protection to women and girls across Syria, as well as delivering empowerment programmes to youth. In 2024, UNFPA provided close to 1 million women and girls with sexual and reproductive healthcare; reached over 430,000 people with family planning services, and supported more than 420,000 women and girls with gender-based violence prevention and response. UNFPA is calling for $71.1 million to deliver these services in 2025.