The conflict in Syria affected severely the health sector; health infrastructure was damaged, the Damascus ministry of health withdrew from opposition held areas, health workers fled the country, and there has been always a shortage of funding and medical supplies. To address these needs, Syrian NGOs, INGOs, donors, and UN Agencies have been providing health interventions through humanitarian channels. However, many of these interventions were short termed, and there was no governance framework to guide the newly introduced parallel system, leaving it subject to individual organizations’ strategies and approaches.
To counter these challenges, local communities and Syrian NGOs established new platforms to govern and coordinate certain aspects of the health sector. These platforms are called “central desks”, which are perceived to be independent and neutral structures and can coordinate services between all actors. Examples of these structures are Syrian Immunization Group (SIG), Health Information System (HIS), the Infection Protection and Control initiative (IPC), and the Referral System network.