Antwerp researchers call for review of Syria sanctions to protect health systems

Researchers at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp have called for a review of sanctions against Syria because of their impact on health systems and essential services. Their call for an international debate on the sanctions was recently published in The Lancet.

Former president Bashar al-Assad’s regime collapsed during a major offensive led by the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham group on 8 December, after 13 years of war, but economic sanctions imposed during his rule remain largely in place. “These measures devastate the lives of ordinary citizens,” the institute said in a press release on Thursday.

Before the war, Syria produced a lot of medicine itself. Even during the war, Assad’s regime produced pills, but mostly illegal ones such as Captagon, an addictive, amphetamine-type stimulant.

Basic services

“The sanctions have disrupted supply chains,” said the ITM. “Essential raw materials are not entering the country. Syrians rely on imported medicines that are of inferior quality, more expensive and sometimes riskier.”

The driving force behind the call was Dr Saleh Aljadeeah, a researcher at the ITM’s Medicines and Health Service, who saw the effects of sanctions while working in northern Syria.

"Syrians rely on imported medicines that are of inferior quality, more expensive and sometimes riskier"

“We need to strike a balance,” he said. “On the one hand, putting pressure on repressive regimes and, at the same time, ensuring access to basic services. Syria now offers a unique opportunity to review the design and implementation of sanctions.”

Aljadeeah is a pharmacist, a graduate of Damascus University. Since 2022, he has been a postdoctoral researcher at the ITM, where his work is partly funded by the King Baudouin Foundation.

 

#FlandersNewsService | Workers unload medical and health supplies to Syria, delivered by the World Health Organization, at Istanbul International Airport, 26 December 2024 ©PHOTO YASIN AKGUL / AFP


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