One third of children in Lebanon are skipping meals and have no access to primary health care, according to a report released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
UNICEF Child-Focused Rapid Assessment was conducted by telephone among 1,244 households in April 2021.
Over 30 percent of children went to bed hungry and skipped meals in the past month.
Seventy-seven percent of households do not have enough food or enough money to buy food. In Syrian refugee households, the figure reaches 99 percent.
Sixty percent of households have to buy food on credit or borrow money.
Thirty percent of children are not receiving the primary health care they need, while 76 percent of households said they are affected by the massive increase in medication prices.
Forty percent of children are from families where no one has work and 77 percent are from families that do not receive any social assistance.
Fifteen percent of families stopped their children’s education.
Eighty percent of caregivers said their children had difficulties concentrating on their studies at home – which might indicate hunger or mental distress.
“What the UNICEF survey shows is that children are bearing the brunt of this escalating catastrophe,” Yukie Mokuo, UNICEF Representative in Lebanon, remarked.
“With no improvement in sight, more children than ever before are going to bed hungry in Lebanon. Children’s health, education, and their very futures are affected as prices are skyrocketing and unemployment continues to increase.
More and more families are being forced to resort to negative coping measures, including sending their children to work in often dangerous and hazardous conditions, marrying off their young daughters or selling their belongings”, Mokuo added.
UNICEF reinforces its call to the national authorities to implement a major expansion of social protection measures, to ensure access to quality education for every child, and to strengthen both primary healthcare and child protection services.
