War and Infectious Diseases: Challenges of the Syrian Civil War

Syria’s ongoing three-year civil war has displaced 6.5 million Syrians, left hundreds of thousands wounded or killed by violence, and created a vacuum in basic infrastructures that will reverberate throughout the region for years to come. Beyond such devastation, the civil war has introduced epidemics of infections that have spread through vulnerable populations in Syria and neighboring countries. In this article, we discuss the growing epidemics of poliomyelitis, measles, and cutaneous leishmaniasis in Syria and the region to examine the impact of conditions of war on the spread of infectious diseases in a public health emergency of global concern.