This report offers a comprehensive assessment of Syria’s health sector in the wake of the country’s political transition following the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024. Drawing on a series of regional workshops held in January 2025 across Aleppo, Latakia, Homs, and Damascus—with over 300 health professionals and stakeholders—the report identifies the sector’s most pressing challenges and outlines short- and long-term intervention priorities. The analysis is structured around the World Health Organization’s six core pillars of health systems: governance, finance, human resources, service delivery, supply, and health information systems.

The findings reveal a health sector in crisis. Years of conflict, economic collapse, and governance failures have left Syria’s health system fragmented, overstretched, and deeply inequitable. Key challenges include excessive centralization, political interference, chronic underfunding, mass emigration of health professionals, and the collapse of supply chains and information systems. Regional disparities are pronounced, and rural and underserved areas remain severely neglected. Sanctions have exacerbated shortages of medicines and medical equipment, while corruption and favoritism continue to undermine service delivery.

Despite this grim picture, the report outlines a practical roadmap for recovery, grounded in decentralization, transparency, collaboration, and sustainability. It recommends empowering local health directorates, establishing inclusive coordination platforms, and building a unified national health information system. It also stresses the importance of revitalizing health education, regulating public-private partnerships, and engaging Syrian expatriates in rebuilding efforts.

The report advocates for a phased approach to reform, combining urgent measures—such as stabilizing supply chains and supporting vulnerable populations—with long-term strategies like national health insurance, vocational training, and legal reform. It calls on the transitional government, international organizations, civil society, and the private sector to work together to stabilize and reform the health system, ensuring it is resilient, inclusive, and fit for Syria’s future.

A complementary community-level study conducted by LUGARIT and the Omran Center for Strategic Studies adds further insights, highlighting public perceptions and lived experiences within Syria’s evolving health landscape.

Overall, the report serves as both a diagnosis of structural breakdown and a blueprint for strategic recovery—one that seeks to transform Syria’s health sector from a source of instability into a pillar of post-conflict reconstruction and national resilience.