Clinic set up by Turkey in northern Syria offers education to hundreds of women on maternity and childcare

A special mother and baby clinic set up at a local hospital in northern Syria has educated about 700 women on maternity and childcare since its opening two months ago.

The Jarabulus Hospital, with the support of the Turkish government, provides education and training on the importance of breastfeeding as well as techniques to improve childcare to mothers in Syria's regions liberated from terrorists in 2016.

In September 2016, the Turkish army liberated Jarabulus from ISIS/Daesh terrorists as part of Operation Euphrates Shield. The aim of the operation, which ended in March 2017, was to eradicate terrorists from Syria's border territories with Turkey.

The clinic provides educational training programs for mothers and expectant mothers with aims to raise healthy individuals.

Babies can be fed more effectively, births can take place in healthier environments, and problems like hip dislocation, respiratory failure, and jaundice can be prevented owing to the training provided to the women.

A significant decrease in new-born care in the Jarabulus Hospital's ICU was observed during continued training at the clinic for the past two months.

Six out of every eight babies were admitted to the intensive care unit in 2020 owing to malnutrition-related problems, but this number has dropped by half in the last two months, Hasret Yıldızoğlu, chief Nurse and humanitarian relief advisor, told Anadolu Agency.

"Our goal is to achieve a zero rate. We aim to reduce the home birth rate to zero with the training we provide in this polyclinic," she added.

The Jarabulus Hospital, located in northern Syria's Operation Euphrates Shield zone, opened on Sept. 26, 2016.

After reconstruction, the facility was converted from an old school building into a hospital with three operating rooms, 75 beds, a dialysis service with ten devices, a delivery room, an eight-bed intensive care unit, eight incubators, and polyclinic services in 21 branches.