THE ROLE OF THE UNITED NATIONS AGENCIES IN PROVIDING HEALTHCARE FOR SYRIAN REFUGEES IN TURKEY (2011- 2021)

2024-3
Tandoğan , Evrim
Turkey, hosting more than three million registered Syrian refugees, have become the top-Syrian refugee hosting country in the world in the last decade following the outbreak of the Civil War in Syria started in 2011. As a response to pressures on its health sector which have implications for refugees’ access to healthcare, Turkey realized significant changes in healthcare provision to overcome the pressures on its healthcare system and the difficulties refugees faced, and collaborated with international actors, including UN agencies. This thesis examines the role of three UN agencies, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) which took key roles in healthcare provision to refugees, on three different policy sectors. These policy sectors, respectively, are primary-level healthcare provision, sexual and reproductive healthcare provision to refugee women and immunization healthcare provision to refugee children. Based on findings from semi-structured interviews, comprehensive review of policy documents, international and national legal documents, and press coverage both in English and Turkish, this thesis investigates the nature of the policy change in Turkey's health sector after the Syrian migration crisis and the role of capacities and expertise of the UN agencies in the process of this policy change. It further examines the impact of these policy capacities of the UN on the policy capacity of Turkey in three policy sectors and tries to clarify to what extent these policy capacities led policy learning in Turkey.
Citation Formats
E. Tandoğan, “THE ROLE OF THE UNITED NATIONS AGENCIES IN PROVIDING HEALTHCARE FOR SYRIAN REFUGEES IN TURKEY (2011- 2021),” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2024.