Science Magazine: A War Within a War
Syrian refugee children “have witnessed horrors in the course of the war, which has killed an estimated 140,000 people and displaced 8 million or 9 million. … And now they face the threat of polio, which erupted in Syria last October after a 15-year absence and has already paralyzed at least 37 kids—exact numbers are contentious — mostly in the opposition-held north. ‘It’s an emergency within an emergency,’ says Australian polio expert Chris Maher — not just for Syria, where millions of kids are at risk, but for surrounding countries as well, including Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq, as refugees pour across their borders…” (Roberts, 3/21).