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Abu Azzam, a 38-year-old Syrian man, lives with his family in the town of Hamouriya, East Ghouta.  Two years ago, they fled from nearby Al-Murj after an aerial attack hit their home, killing one of their children and severely injuring another . Now, they live in  an empty and dilapidated...

As soon as we arrived to Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar, we witnessed massive floods surrounding tents like islands, with Rohingya refugees attempting to swim to the main road for safety. “This flooding is caused by last night’s rainfall” remarked Mrs. Khatun. As part of our needs assessment trip to...

For Immediate Release September 27, 2017 Washington, D.C.- Yesterday, the Government of Syria and its allies carried out three aerial attacks on medical facilities in Idlib, Hama, and besieged East Ghouta. These attacks are part of an intensifying escalation of violence directly targeting the medical infrastructure of areas outside of...

The SAMS Global Response (SGR) Team landed in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s densely populated capital city, on Monday, September 18. At the time, the team consisted of myself and SGR director Dina Prior. Upon landing, we immediately identified other humanitarian aid workers at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, also headed to aid...

Last year, a Lebanese woman arrived  to the SAMS polyclinic in the Bekaa Valley, asking for an urgent appointment with me as internist for her father. “The clinic is so crowded but I can wait, ” she said. I examined her father, an 85 year old man struggling with chronic...

More than half a million Rohingya refugees have fled persecution in Myanmar, seeking refuge in makeshift shelters in Bangladesh. In order to respond to the growing need for medical care in Bangladesh, SAMS Global Response (SGR) has partnered with a local medical organization, Gonoshaathata Kendra (GK)  to assess the situation...

Salah, a young Syrian, once lived in rural Damascus with his family. As violence escalated, he and his family fled Syria for Lebanon. They now live in the Beka’a Valley, home to over a million Syrian refugees. Although he is now far from the aerial attacks that plagued his hometown,...

With the Syrian conflict continuing through its seventh year, 5 million Syrians are displaced outside of their home country. Over 1 million Syrian refugees now reside in Jordan, the sixth highest refugee-hosting country in the world. For refugees who have fled from devastating conditions such as siege and aerial attacks,...

My GP colleague left in the last week and I found myself the sole ‘generalist’ medical provider. There was an American obstetrician & gynaecologist who was newly arrived and would care for most of the women’s health patients. Having been there for two weeks, I was allocated the clinical lead....

I made my decision to leave specialist training in emergency medicine last year. My reasons for leaving were multi-factorial but for the most part I lost my confidence as a doctor. When so much of my life was dedicated to medicine, I essentially felt like I lost myself. So I...

“Refugees here are in need of much more than just physicians – there is a need for all types of healthcare workers, from speech pathologists to physical therapists to child psychologists and more.”   Obadah Moushmoush recently joined the SAMS medical mission to Lebanon, where he has been supporting physicians...

It’s 7 pm on a Tuesday in the Bekaa Valley, and Dr. John Kahler has just completed the single most medically challenging day on a medical mission in 27 years. Since July 13th, Dr. Kahler has been in Lebanon, where he is providing care on a medical mission alongside physicians...