Birth in the desert: Team of nurses, Zoom deliver baby in al-Rukban
Syrians stranded in al-Rukban camp near the border with Jordan have been living under harsh conditions for years, and even childbirth has become very risky.
![647115246 Syrian refugee patients from the makeshift Rukban camp, which lies in no-man's-land off the border between Syria and Jordan in the remote northeast, cross over to visit a UN-operated medical clinic immediately on the Jordanian-side for checkups, on March 1, 2017.
Conditions in the Rukban camp deteriorated sharply after Jordan sealed its border almost a year prior, following a cross-border jihadist attack that killed seven Jordanian border guards in June 2016. / AFP PHOTO / KHALIL MAZRAAWI (Photo cred](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2020/12/GettyImages-647115246.jpg/GettyImages-647115246.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=3K3OffbX)
When Reem Ibrahim’s contractions started on the morning of Nov. 28, she was filled with a deep fear. She had just entered her 40th week of pregnancy and her approaching due date — normally a source of happiness and celebration — had only increased her feelings of dread.
Ibrahim, 30, required a cesarean section for a successful delivery. In most contexts, this would be a safe and routine procedure. However, Ibrahim lives in al-Rukban camp, a makeshift settlement located in a desolate strip of no-man’s-land between Syria and Jordan. Despite its 10,000 residents, al-Rukban does not have a single doctor or a hospital and suffers dire shortages in medical supplies.