Halbouni clinic in Damascus spreads its services

In order to highlight the importance of women’s health in all its medical, psychological and social dimensions, the European Union funded a multi-service development project at Halbouni Health Counseling Center in Damascus.

Samar Ezmeshli - Damascus, Al-Hayat

Located in an underprivileged area of Damascus, “Halbouni Health Counseling center” mainly targets women, men and adolescents living in deprived and underprivileged areas. Its main aim is to provide them with counseling in order “to help them understand their rights and improve their living conditions”.

This clinic is one of the 22 centers of the “Syrian Family Planning Association” (SFPA) in over 11 Syrian Governorates, offering basic services such as reproductive health care, family planning, counseling for adolescents, HIV tests and premarital counseling. In 2007, the Halbouni clinic was selected for a development project funded by the EU, with a budget of €750,000, and the Italian Association for Women in Development (AIDOS) with a contribution of €250,000. The project aims to improve the physical, psychological and social well-being of Syrian families and attain higher standards of reproductive health through a holistic approach, based on the idea that women’s well-being depends on the balance of physical, psychological and emotional factors.”

The clinic's director Dr. Khawla Akel said that the project is based on the idea that the service should be comprehensive and that women’s state of health should be considered in the perspective of their entire life cycle, from puberty until menopause. From this point of view, the clinic was turned into a counseling center that offers psychological, physical, legal and social counseling services. Dr. Khawla Akel explains that the center's main target is assaulted women. The objective is to offer them support, so they might be able to improve their living conditions.

According to Dr. Akel, violence against women constitutes a global health problem and not, as commonly known, a mere social issue. She points out that the clinic is currently conducting a study about violence against women in Syria. Its results are expected to be released next April. Dr. Akel also said that “the center does not offer simply advices but counseling services that are provided by lawyers and specialists to help women develop and improve their capacities and find themselves solutions for their problems.”

The center's achievements
Over a four year period, the project targets four underprivileged districts located in Damascus and its surrounding areas: 1) Esh Al-Warwar, 2) Nahr Aisha, 3) Cheikh Ibrahim and 4) Mazzat Bassatin. The project team received the help of prominent figures, mayors and political parties’ representatives for accessing the selected regions and conducting awareness campaigns.

Dr. Khawla Akel said that “the center made great achievements in some areas and succeeded in building effective relationships with families who benefited from awareness campaigns.” Dr. Akel reports that awareness sessions are organized on a monthly basis, in addition to workshops and monthly home visits. Besides, once every three months, the clinic moves its operations to a specific region and offers, for free, during one to three days, health care services, counseling and advice. It is to be noted that not only women are given the possibility to benefit from the center’s services. Men are also targeted; according to the sharing principle, “male social workers and psychologists are in charge of dealing with men and helping them to understand what women need.”

The clinic intends as well to build sustainability into its activity. This is why profit-making actions will be carried out in the coming period. For instance, an affiliation is expected to be concluded with a sport club with the aim of organizing health care sessions to the profit of pregnant women, such as yoga and reflexology, to facilitate natural delivery.

For their part, workers within the center receive technical training courses from AIDOS, under the supervision of Italian specialists. Knowledge sharing sessions are also organized to enhance best practices exchanges between Halbouni clinic and other health care centers established by AIDOS in Jordan, Gaza and Nepal. In case the experience appears to be successful, it will be applied to other centers in Syria.

The staff of the clinic is composed of a manager, a female gynecologist, a midwife, a nurse, several social workers, a physiotherapist, a psychologist, a lawyer, as well as a male psycho-sociologist, in addition to administrative personnel.

Refer to the project fact sheet: Strengthening the capacity of the Syrian Family Planning Association (SFPA)