One of the saddest things in the world today is a child, looking nowhere, as if asking the viewer, "Why are you doing this to us? We are only children." This thought came to my mind as I read a report of the effects of the Syrian war on children, "A Devastating toll: The impact of three years of war on the health of Syria's children," prepared by Save the Children, a health and human rights organization working in over 120 countries.
The reported numbers of suffering children are overpowering: at least 1.2 million children have fled the country, and at least 4.3 million children are in urgent need of health and humanitarian assistance. More than 10,000 children have already lost their lives and the numbers keep increasing.
Those children killed or maimed are the result not only of bullets and bombs: They are also dying from lack of basic medical care. What has happened is the result of the collapse of the whole health system in the country. Most children today in Syria are even unable to receive vaccinations for the most common preventable diseases.