Attachments
Highlights
Lebanon’s unprecedented economic and financial crisis has resulted in an estimated 2.2 million vulnerable Lebanese, 207,700 Palestinian refugees and 86,200 migrants, including 700,000 children, facing a humanitarian crisis and multiple deprivations. UNICEF’s key achievements between January – June 2022 include the following:
• 68,323 missed children and adolescents have been reached with ageappropriate vaccinations.
• 4,350 women, girls, and boys accessed GBV risk mitigation, prevention, and/or response interventions.
• 43,543 people have benefited from emergency and longer-term social and economic assistance.
• 995,743 people have been supported with accessing a sufficient quantity of safe water for drinking and domestic needs
Funding Overview and Partnerships
UNICEF is appealing for US $92.6 million to respond to the urgent needs of over 1.2 million people, including 374,000 children affected by the deepening economic crises in Lebanon and the Beirut Port explosion and its secondary impacts.
This appeal is in addition to and complements the humanitarian response to the Syrian refugee crisis (the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) and Regional Refugee and Response Plan (3RP), which cover the needs of Syrian refugees and affected Lebanese host communities, as well as COVID-19 related needs.
UNICEF requires urgent funding to ensure that no child in Lebanon is left behind. Without sufficient and timely funding, UNICEF will be unable to support the national response to Lebanon’s continuing crisis, and poor and vulnerable households with children will be left without access to basic needs and services.
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
Lebanon’s financial and economic crisis is arguably one of the top three most severe economic collapses globally since the mid-nineteenth century according to the World Bank.1 Exacerbated by the impacts of COVID-19 and the Beirut Port explosion in August 2020, these financial and economic crises are devastating the livelihoods and wellbeing of the most vulnerable. Over 3.5 million Lebanese people are estimated to live in poverty and around three-quarters are now income vulnerable. Loss of employment and assets, inflation, and the removal of subsidies on fuel, bread and other basic goods have left families struggling to survive.
A nationwide nutrition survey on children under the age of five and women demonstrates the worsening crisis of malnutrition in the country, marked by major food and nutrition insecurity, poor health and nutrition practices, and a lack of access to quality services.2 Exacerbating threats to children’s nutritional situation, the impact of the Ukraine crisis is being felt in import-dependent Lebanon, with prices of food staples such as wheat flour and vegetable oil increasing even further. In 2020, Lebanon sourced 81% of its wheat from Ukraine.3 With an estimated 1.8 million Lebanese citizens (46% of the population) found to be food insecure in 2021,the increases in food and fuel costs will disproportionately impact Lebanon’s most vulnerable, further jeopardising the nutrition status of children and driving more families to take desperate measures to survive.
Further, Lebanon’s water structure is on the brink of collapse, which impacts access to safe water for more than 4 million people. Water shortages can result in families resorting to unsafe and expensive alternatives such as using untreated water from springs or relying on water trucking. Poor hygiene practices are also linked to an increased likelihood of waterborne disease, with infants and young children particularly vulnerable. In addition, due to the multiple ongoing crises, education has become a critical focus, with inclusive learning systems becoming increasingly important to reverse the current learning loss trends. Girls and children with disabilities are at the highest risk of not returning to learning. The crises have exacerbated risks of gender-based violence, with the majority of GBV organizations reporting increased calls for assistance and a reduced ability of survivors to reach out for assistance.
Women and children continue to carry the heaviest burden of these crises including an increasing risk on their survival, health, nutrition, education, access to basic infrastructure, and protection.