Lebanon’s crisis is threatening children’s health: UNICEF

Lebanon’s crisis is threatening children’s health: UNICEF

NNA - The ripple effects of the global economic situation – with heightened prices and increased inflation – are exacerbating Lebanon’s calamitous crisis, with grave consequences for children’s health, UNICEF said in a report released to coincide with World Immunization Week (WIW).

This will cause more disruptions in the health sector, already beset by a major exodus of medical professionals, a hiring freeze by health facilities and limitations on imports of medications and equipment that have seriously affected the quality of healthcare for women and children.

The report, ‘A worsening health crisis for children’, points out the critical drop in vaccination rates has left children vulnerable to potentially deadly diseases such as measles, diphtheria and pneumonia. Routine vaccination of children has dropped by 31 per cent when rates already were worryingly low, creating a large pool of unprotected children vulnerable to disease and its impact.

Keeping the cold chain for vaccines running is critical and the rising fuel prices pose new threats to essential services, such as vaccine delivery, despite efforts to rapidly increase the use of solar power.

“With 80 per cent of the population living in poverty, many families cannot even afford the cost of transportation to take their children to a health