Ms Brid Kennedy:

The role of women and nutrition are strongly interlinked. We have talked about the major displacements of people over the past ten years. Traditionally women were the bearers of children and looked after rearing them. Now women have become breadwinners because many of the men have been injured or killed in the war. Regarding nutrition, women are going out predominantly trying to find low-paid work. They are not able to afford food and certainly not nutritious food. With sanctions and the economic decline, there is a shortage of good quality food and a shortage of clean water. A combination of the shortage of food and clean water along with very poor living conditions, especially for women and families living in tents in which they have coped with the extreme heat of the summer and the extreme cold and floods of the winter, is contributing to malnutrition at different levels.

In addition, the entire healthcare system has collapsed. There is a shortage of nurses and doctors because many have fled Syria. Those who are left working in the country are poorly resourced to treat children with malnutrition and other health conditions that inadvertently lead to malnutrition.