BEIRUT, April 20, 2022 (Xinhua) The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned in a report issued today (Wednesday) in conjunction with the World Immunization Week of “the exacerbation of the catastrophic crisis in Lebanon and the increasing serious repercussions on children’s health.”
In a statement issued by the organization, a copy of which was received by Xinhua, the UNICEF representative indicated that with the health system in Lebanon reaching the point of collapse due to the many crises that have hit it, many families are no longer able to obtain primary health care for their children.
The UNICEF report, titled “The Aggravation of the Health Crisis for Children in Lebanon”, stated that “the global economic crisis and the resulting rise in prices and an increase in inflation are exacerbating the catastrophic crisis in Lebanon.”
He pointed to the turmoil in the health sector, which suffers from a massive exodus of health workers, with the stagnation of the recruitment process in health institutions in the country, in addition to the restrictions imposed on the import of medicines and medical equipment, which seriously affected the quality of health care for women and children.
The report also noted that “sharp declines in routine vaccination rates have left children vulnerable to potentially fatal diseases such as measles, diphtheria infections, and pneumonia.”
He added that the routine vaccination rate for children decreased by 31%, noting that immunization rates were alarmingly low, and this resulted in the presence of a large number of unvaccinated children exposed to diseases and their dangerous effects.
The report pointed out that “maintaining the cold chain to maintain the provision of vaccines that require energy is critical, while high fuel prices pose a new threat to basic services, such as good vaccine delivery, despite efforts to rapidly increase the use of solar energy.” .
He stated that while regarding 80% of the population in Lebanon suffers from poverty, many no longer have the ability to provide the food and nutrition that their children need to survive.
The report said that “the National Nutrition Survey in Lebanon for the year 2021 shows that the main nutritional indicators of young children are weak in their first days of life and worsen over time.”
He added that “more than 90% of children do not meet the minimum standards in obtaining the varied diets they need, or the acceptable diet during the most accurate period in their lives that determines their healthy growth and development until they reach the age of two.”
He stressed, “the need for support to prevent further deterioration of the health and nutritional situation and to protect the most vulnerable women and children at a time when Lebanon is suffering from the economic collapse and the effects of the (Covid-19) outbreak and the repercussions of the Beirut Port explosion in 2020, in addition to the current global economic crisis.”
The report pointed out that “with no improvement in the repercussions of the manifold crises in Lebanon, immediate action has become an urgent need to prioritize children’s health,” stressing that “Lebanon cannot bear a generation of children in poor health and deprived of nutrition.”
UNICEF called on the Lebanese government and stakeholders to “concentrate all efforts to vaccinate children once morest diseases that can be prevented through vaccination, and to improve the nutritional well-being of children and women.”
Lebanon is going through an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, classified by the World Bank as one of the worst crises the world has witnessed during the past 150 years.
Lebanon is suffering from a collapse in its local currency once morest the dollar at a time when the country is hit by intertwined political, economic, living and health crises that have led to a high poverty rate to 82 percent with the exacerbation of unemployment and inflation and the erosion of incomes and savings amid an unprecedented rise in prices with a shortage of fuel, medicines and infant formula. /ts/
