After almost four years of brutal conflict, the health care system in the country has been decimated: doctors struggle to get paid, medicines are extremely rare, inflation has rendered the most basic commodities prohibitively expensive.

For Fawaz and his parents who were watching him waste away helplessly, this could have meant the end, but against all odds, he was able to access the right treatment.

Here’s his extraordinary story, from our colleagues at the UN humanitarian coordination office (OCHA), and the camera lens of photographer, Giles Clarke.