MSF ends operation supporting Syrian refugees in northern Jordan to 'reorientate priorities'

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has ended one of its largest medical operations designed to support Syrian refugees in northern Jordan after nine years, a statement from the organisation said on Monday. 

The international humanitarian organisation provided clinical assessments and post-operative care in refugee camps, as well as mobile clinics, in areas along Jordan’s northeastern border to help Syrians who fled across the border. 

The MSF chief in Jordan, David Cantero Perez, said the NGO has "reoriented our priorities" based on "improved access to chronic diseases treatment in Jordan". 

"We've designed an exit strategy involving the mobilisation of other actors and the Jordanian ministry of health to take over our work," said Perez. 

The organisation has delivered medical consultations to a cohort of more than 5,500 patients as part of their chronic diseases treatment programme in north Jordan, said an MSF statement. 

Seventy percent of the patients were Syrian refugees, while 30 percent were “vulnerable Jordanians”, the statement said. 

The programme offered treatment for hypertension, diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. 

This closure does not mark the end of all MSF operations in Jordan, the organisation stressed. 

MSF will continue to treat war-wounded people in Jordan, including Syrians, at their reconstructive surgical hospital in Amman, which has been running since August 2006. 

There are over 650,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan, according to UN data. Since the Syria war broke started in 2011 - ignited after the regime's killing of protesters - tens of thousands have crossed over the border to Jordan and many now live in cities and towns instead of refugee camps.