"I had to leave. I had to leave my clinic, my city, leave everything behind in Syria". Qualitative accounts from Syrian health care workers migrating from the war-torn country

Objectives: To explore the experiences of Syrian health care workers of violence since 2011 and reasons behind migration from the conflict-affected country Design: A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews and inductive content analysis. Interviews were conducted in Turkey and Europe in 2016 - 2017. Setting: Interviewees were Syrian health care workers who had been working in the country after the conflict started in 2011, but at some point, migrated from Syria to Turkey or Europe. Participants: We studied data from 20 semi-structured in-depth interviews collected with a snowball sampling method. Results: Our findings show that health care workers migrated from Syria because of security issues. In most cases, the decision to leave was a result of the generalised violence that was spreading through the country since 2011. Targeted attacks by various warring parties against health care was one of the main reasons for leaving. Some participants had a specific notable trigger event before they left; such as a colleague being detained or killed. Many just grew tired of living under constant threat and fear, with their families also at risk. Conclusions: This research adds to the body of literature on violence in Syria. It helps to understand the reasons why health care workers, even though realising that it will leave their population without proper health care provision, nevertheless decide to flee the country.