Lebanon

Background
Lebanon, a small, mountainous country at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean, is home to 3.8 million people. Relative to its neighbors in the region—it is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south—it enjoys a high standard of living and development. Its complex political history since independence from France in 1943, however, has been one marked by periods of violence. Protracted internal civil conflict and armed conflict involving Israeli, Palestinian, and Syrian military forces have taken their toll on the country’s social and economic infrastructure.

Lebanon’s health care system is largely fragmented, with little standardization across hospitals, clinics, and rural health posts. Though national health care expenditure is high, quality services are concentrated in urban areas. A full 40 percent of the population—largely the rural, poor, and elderly—does not have any form of medical insurance.

The recent violence with Israel, in July 2006, brought more than 1,000 deaths in Lebanon, and four times as many injuries. As many as one million people were forced to flee their homes in search of safety.

What IMC Is Doing
With the conflict just days old, IMC deployed an Emergency Response Team to Lebanon and also Syria, where many Lebanese had fled the fighting. IMC set up regional logistics hubs and began assessing the damage to Lebanon’s health and hygiene sectors to determine immediate needs. At the same time, IMC operated ambulance services and mobile clinics in the south, provided equipment and supplies to four hospitals in southern Lebanon, collaborated on a health education campaign to prevent the spread of disease among the displaced, and distributed essentials, including food, water, medicine, and hygiene materials to those most in need in and around Beirut. As fighting continued, IMC sent mobile medical units to outlying areas of the Syrian capital, Damascus, and along the devastated Lebanon-Syrian border, providing health care and much-needed supplies to thousands of displaced and disoriented Lebanese.

Just hours after the ceasefire was announced, IMC once again deployed to southern Lebanon, where the challenges they faced were staggering. For those who returned to virtually nothing, IMC provided essential supplies, including water tanks; thousands of hygiene, health, and family kits; and essential items like food, water, mattresses, cooking utensils, and toys for children. IMC began a mine awareness education program for children and provided supplies needed for clinics and hospitals to reopen.

The conflict may be over, but its impact on people in the region will linger for years. Concentrating on severely damaged areas of southern Lebanon, IMC has shifted its efforts from the life-saving work of emergency relief to helping communities return to self-reliance. This rehabilitation work has many facets, including:

• Rehabilitating clinics in 11 communities and working with local and international partners to restore and support 10 additional public health clinics and five dispensaries in the area;
• Ensuring clean water supplies and proper sanitation by distributing water tanks and supplies of clean water, repairing and replacing damaged water lines, and delivering hygiene kits containing basic supplies like shampoo, soap, sanitary napkins, and toothpaste;
• Empowering people to gain control of their economic lives by establishing cash-for-work programs for clean-up activities in southern Lebanon;
• Implementing a Mine Awareness Education Program for children, using stories and puppets to teach them how to stay safe in an environment strewn with thousands of unexploded ordnance; and
• Establishing safe play spaces for children in southern Lebanon who are in need of a secure, supportive environment.

Recovery is expected to be a long process, and IMC is committed not only to providing assistance in primary health care, mental health, water, sanitation, and livelihoods, but to passing on skills to local health care institutions and professionals so their communities can once again care for themselves.