Beirut (UNA-OIC) – Children in Lebanon are suffering the brunt of one of the worst economic collapses in the world in recent times, according to a survey published Thursday by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The UN agency considered that “the successive crises that combined in the formation of the great crisis, including the complete economic collapse, led to making families and children in Lebanon in a dire state, and affected almost every aspect of their lives, in light of the scarcity of resources and the impossibility of realistic access to support Social”.
The UNICEF survey indicates that more than 30 percent of children in Lebanon slept in their bed, last month, with empty stomachs, because they did not get enough meals, and 77 percent of households do not have enough food or money to buy it. This percentage rises among Syrian families to 99 percent.
It added that 60 percent of families are forced to buy food by accumulating unpaid bills or through borrowing, 30 percent of children in Lebanon do not receive the primary health care they need, and 76 percent of households were highly affected by the massive increase in drug prices.
One in ten children is sent to work, 40 percent of the children belong to families in which no one works, 77 percent of those families do not receive social assistance from any party, and 15 percent of families have stopped educating their children, according to the survey, which also found that 80 percent of caregivers reported that children are having difficulty concentrating on their studies at home, either because of hunger or psychological distress.
The survey stated that “Economic stagnation is only one of the crises afflicting the country, which is reeling under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the results of the two massive explosions that ravaged the port of Beirut in August 2020, in addition to the ongoing political instability.”
It added that 1.5 million Syrians are among the most affected, and the number of Lebanese who need rapid support is rising at a record speed.
UNICEF Representative in Lebanon Yuki Muko said that “the World Bank described what is currently happening in Lebanon as one of the three largest economic collapses that have emerged since the mid-nineteenth century.”
He noted that “what was highlighted by the UNICEF survey, is that children are the easiest prey to the deep catastrophe and often bear the brunt of it.”
UNICEF renewed its calls to “local authorities in Lebanon to rapidly expand in meeting urgent needs and provide social protection measures, in order to ensure access to quality education for every child, and to strengthen primary health care services and child protection.”
