Data from: Children in the Syrian civil war: the familial, educational, and public health impact of ongoing violence

The Syrian civil war since 2011 has led to one of the most complex
humanitarian emergencies in history. The objective of this study was to
document the impact of the conflict on the familial, educational, and
public health state of Syrian children. A cross-sectional observational
study was conducted in May 2015. Health care workers visited families with
a prospectively designed data sheet in 4 Northern Syrian governorates. The
1001 children included in this study originated from Aleppo (41%), Idleb
(36%), Hamah (15%), and Lattakia (8%). The children’s median age was 6
years (range, 0-15 years; interquartile range, 3-11 years), and 61% were
boys. Almost 20% of the children were internally displaced, and 5% had
deceased or missing parents. Children lacked access to safe drinking water
(15%), appropriate sanitation (23%), healthy nutrition (16%), and
pediatric health care providers (64%). Vaccination was inadequate in 72%.
More than half of school-aged children had no access to education.
Children in Idleb and Lattakia were at greater risk of having unmet public
health needs. Younger children were at greater risk of having an
incomplete vaccination state. After 4 years of civil war in Syria,
children have lost parents, live in substandard life quality
circumstances, and are at risk for outbreaks because of worsening
vaccination states and insufficient availability of health care providers.