Lessons from Turkey: Syrians under Temporary Protection, Health Services and NGOs

Background With the outbreak of civil war in March 2011 in Syria, an estimated 11 million Syrians had left their homeland in order to escape from turmoil. According to statistics from Fall 2016, Turkey hosts an estimated 3 million Syrians, only 10% of whom live in 26 government-led temporary shelter centers (a.k.a. camps). Local governments, NGOs and IOs became the major partners in the delivery of public services, such as accommodation, education and health care services, alongside government agencies. Two different types of NGOs were studies: ASAM (Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants), which is an organization that aims to provide generally protection services to all asylum seekers including Syrians; and secondly the Turkish Medical Doctors’ Association which is a professional organization of the medical doctors in Turkey who have been involved in the health related challenges of mass influx in different cities and at different levels since 2011. Conclusions Despite the existence of multiple NGOs working in the field to meet the international protection needs of the Syrians under Temporary Protection (SuTP), the scant collaboration among different NGOs is apparent when one observes the field closely. The humanitarian crisis and the resulting mass influx also highlighted the need to establish short, medium and long term policy solutions with multiple actors (both governmental and non-governmental) at different levels (local, regional, national, international). While the SuTP are concentrated in cities near the border with Syria, the health services continue in a relatively appropriate degree. Such resilience seems to have been possible as a consequence of the collaboration with the NGOs in the field.