Mobile Health Clinic in the South of Lebanon
Background to the Refugee Crisis in Lebanon
Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, 1.5 million refugees have fled into Lebanon from Syria. 91,000 have settled in south Lebanon; a region that already suffers from chronic underdevelopment in multiple sectors, including education and health. Within this number are 18,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria, now doubly displaced, joining the 450,000 Palestinian refugees already in Lebanon. All these refugees live in the most deplorable social, economic and environmental conditions. Some live within already overcrowded and under-resourced Palestinian refugee camps, but most live in tents or disused/unfinished buildings with no basic amenities. Women and young children are always the most vulnerable members of displaced communities and comprise over 70% of the Syrian refugee population.
Chronic political instability and corruption in Lebanon have simply exacerbated the situation.
Problems as of early 2024
Over the past two years the country’s worst ever economic crisis, with local currency devalued by 90% and food prices increased sixfold, the devastating Beirut blast, COVID-19 pandemic and more recent cholera outbreak have resulted in a rapid and frightening escalation in the level of need within refugee and Lebanese communities; rising unemployment and poverty levels, rising levels of food insecurity and malnutrition (particularly affecting young children and pregnant/breastfeeding women), an exponential rise in mental health problems, and extremely worrying increases in reports of gender-based violence and child protection concerns.
1 out of 4 Syrian refugee children is stunted; short for age. Stunting is a marker of chronic malnutrition in children, is irreversible, and permanently compromises a child’s potential; in terms of their health and academic/economic success.
The international humanitarian response has never been able to meet the daunting level of need triggered by the Syrian refugee crisis, and budgets and services have been cut drastically over the past year.
The devastating earthquakes that hit southern Turkey and north-west Syria on 6th February 2023 killed over 42,000 people and affected millions more; given the difficulties delivering and distributing humanitarian aid within Syria large numbers were forced to flee into Lebanon to access any form of support.
Ever since the war in Israel and Gaza began on 7th October 2023, violence has been increasing on the Lebanon-Israel border, with a growing threat that this will escalate into full-scale war.
Our Mobile Health Clinic Project
IDEALS has been working with our local partner organisation, Blue Mission, providing life-saving support for 25,000 Syrian refugees, Palestinian refugees and poor Lebanese families in south Lebanon since 2017. We provide essential primary health care, maternal and mental health services. In the past year we have added a vital nutritional support component, to prevent, identify and treat life-threatening malnutrition in young children and pregnant women.
All these services are provided free of charge and our team of doctors, nurse, midwife, psychologists and social workers travel to each settlement in a dedicated vehicle, maximising access to these vital services and avoiding any transport costs for beneficiaries.
With the sudden and completely unexpected loss of funding from the project’s major donor, the project ended in February 2024, but in the year to that point a summary of project activity is provided in the table below:
