How AFS is helping rebuild Syria's healthcare system

AFS supports innovative programming to increase healthcare access and strengthen provision of healthcare services in Syria against a backdrop of declining donor funding and high levels of needs across affected populations. To date, AFS has allocated over $18.4 million to healthcare projects in northern Syria, enabling support to 65 health facilities and reaching 1.94 million beneficiaries. Through our partners, AFS has also trained 2,000 local health workers and provided 863,500 medical consultations.

Rebuilding the healthcare system in Ma’arrat al-Numan

Healthcare services are in a critical state in the city of Ma’arrat al-Numan in southern Idleb—an area previously inaccessible to AFS partners prior to the toppling of the Assad regime—due to severe infrastructure damage caused by the conflict. The main hospital facility, Ma’arrat al-Numan National Hospital, has been out of operation since 2019, placing pressure on the city’s primary health centres to meet growing needs from residents in the city and nearby IDP camps. Demand for healthcare services is expected to increase further as former residents return back to the city, with the population estimated to swell to 100,000 by the end of 2025. A recent assessment by the WHO in February 2025 confirmed the scale of damage and impact on the local population, noting that 70% of Ma’arrat al-Numan National Hospital required restoration.

Under Envelope 3 of AFS’s third Regular Allocation, which addresses critical needs and emerging challenges in areas in northern Syria previously not accessible to AFS partners, AFS responded rapidly by issuing a $1.4 million grant to Syrian NGO HiHFAD to rebuild the healthcare system in Ma’arrat al-Numan in March 2025. This grant is funding the reconstruction of 60-65% of Ma’arrat al-Numan National Hospital, including the installation of ventilation, heating, sewage, and lighting systems, as well as the establishment of a dedicated 400sqm Outpatient Department (OPD) fitted with medical and non-medical equipment. In addition, HiHFAD is rehabilitating five primary health centres in Saraqab, Maasaran, Maar Dibsi, Afs, and Deir Sharqi in previous frontline areas along the M5 highway.

Once completed in November 2025, the project is expected to benefit over 71,000 people, including anticipated returnees. Majd, HIHFAD’s Senior Media Officer who is originally from Ma’arrat al-Numan, notes “medical services are among the most significant needs requested by displaced families for their return to the Ma’arrat al-Numan area. As a native of Ma’arrat al-Numan, I consider this hospital to be the lifeline of the area, and its reopening encourages me to bring my family back to Ma’arrat al-Numan after five years of displacement”.