Khaled Almilaji

What has been the pandemic’s reach in Syria, in both regime and opposition-held areas? The number of cases under Syrian regime control is around 19 cases. But those are the confirmed cases. We don't know how many asymptomatic individuals are carrying the virus, or even spreading the virus. I hope that regime areas are meeting the WHO recommendations. I don't know the status of the surveillance system there, but we do know they were hiding the cases.

I worked as a doctor during the Syrian Civil War, treating wounded protesters and vaccinating children. When I moved to the U.S. to get my master’s, my future seemed clear. Then Trump’s travel ban left me stranded in Turkey, 5,000 miles away from my pregnant wife Photograph by Daniel Ehrenworth I always knew I’d become a doctor. I grew up in a family of physicians—three of my uncles were doctors, and one ran a big hospital in Aleppo.

AbstractBackground Public health breakdown from the Syrian government's targeting of healthcare systems in politically unsympathetic areas has yielded a resurgence of infectious diseases. Suspected cholera recently reappeared but conflict-related constraints impede laboratory confirmation.