1 in every 37 Syrian child dies before reaching age 5 in Turkey: Report

Duvar English

One in every 37 Syrian children dies before reaching the age of five in Turkey, which hosts over 3.6 million refugees, according to a report on Syrian refugees prepared by Hacettepe University.

Some 81 percent of the deaths take place in the first year after birth, the report said, adding that 44 percent of those occur within the first month.

The mortality risk is higher when the interbirth interval is less than 24 months and the mother is below the age of 18.

According to the report, 79 percent of the Syrian children under the age of 5 are registered.

Some 44 percent of Syrian women in Turkey are below the age of 30, the report said, adding that 78 percent of Syrian women in Turkey are married, while 17 percent were never married, 2 percent are divorced or separated, and 3 percent lost their husbands.

When the education levels of Syrian women were examined, it was seen that 40 percent of those above the age of six never went to school or did not complete elementary school, 37 percent are elementary school graduates or couldn't complete middle school, 13 percent are middle school graduates and nine percent received a high school education or higher.

The education levels of Syrian men, meanwhile, are higher compared to women, with 35 percent of those above the age of six having never gone to school or not having completed elementary school, 38 percent completing elementary school, 15 percent completing middle school and nearly one out of every ten men completing high school or higher.

The report said that 82 percent of the Syrian women in Turkey never worked, adding that 91 percent of them are covered by health insurance as part of the government's temporary protection scheme for Syrians in the country.

Hacettepe University's study showed that consanguineous marriage is common among Syrian refugees in Turkey, with 46 percent of women saying that they married a relative. One in every ten women said that their husbands have multiple wives.

Another striking finding of the study is that 39 percent of the women between the ages of 15 and 19 have been pregnant, while 31 percent of them carried out a live birth.

Some 27 percent of the Syrian women had a miscarriage at least once, three percent of women gave birth to a stillborn baby, one out of every 100 births were stillbirths and five percent of the women underwent a miscarriage willingly at least once.

The report said that 43 percent of married Syrian women between the ages of 15 and 49 don't want to have additional children.

Speaking about the findings, Gökhan Yıldırımkaya from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said that marriages and births are very common among the Syrian women below the age of 18.

"Women's status is different because of the patriarchal structure. The society accepts child marriages and forced marriages, which are common. Interbirth intervals are short," Yıldırımkaya told Independent's Turkish service.