With the conflict in Syria now in its fourth year, the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors in the country have been decimated. While an estimated nine million people have been displaced, more than three million refugees have fled Syria to neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office.
But the massive influx of refugees into these countries has yet to translate into higher demand for pharmaceuticals from local manufacturers or importers – even in Lebanon, which has refused to set up camps, preferring refugees to settle within established communities. This is primarily due to aid agencies and governments providing medicine to refugees, with tenders being sourced internationally, alongside requests for donations from pharma manufacturers.
In general, the conflict in Syria is having a negative effect on the region’s pharmaceutical manufacturers and importers alike, compounded by political instability and weak economic growth in Iraq, Yemen, Egypt and Libya. Indeed, according to World Bank figures, the economic effects of the ‘Arab Spring’ revolts on Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Jordan and Lebanon have caused estimated losses of US$168bn during 2011–2013, equivalent to 19% of these countries’ combined GDP.
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