Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Lebanon + 2 more

UNICEF Lebanon Humanitarian Situation Report No. 2, 1 July - 31 December 2022

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 July – December 2022 include the following:

  • UNICEF repaired and provided maintenance for over 500 water systems, which has resulted in at least an additional two hours of water per day on average, reaching approximately 500,000 people on a monthly basis.

  • As a direct response to increased needs during the Cholera outbreak, UNICEF supplied 498,703 liters of fuel to four water establishments to maintain operating hours across water pumping stations and wastewater lifting and treatment stations.

  • Screened 58,365 children under the age of five and 9,957 pregnant and lactating women for acute malnutrition.

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 secondary impacts of the Beirut Port explosion. 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

Since the start of the crisis in October 2019, the Lebanese Pound has lost more than 95% of its value, placing Lebanon amongst the top five economic crises globally according to the World Bank. High levels of unemployment, a hike in food prices, skyrocketing inflation, huge increases in poverty, a decline of household purchasing power, and the removal of subsidies for medicines and fuel have made it harder for people to meet their basic needs. Over 3.5 million Lebanese people are estimated to live in poverty and around three-quarters are now income vulnerable. Women, girls, and LGBTQI people in Lebanon are particularly affected, facing structural and economic marginalization, increased violence, employment discrimination, and underpayment. Critical fuel shortages, which began during the summer of 2021 and continued throughout 2022, have severely affected the country’s electricity supply with critical consequences for the health, water, transport, and telecommunication sectors.

In October, Lebanon reported its first Cholera cases in 30 years, with 5,819 suspected and confirmed cases and 23 deaths reported by December 31st. The lack of investment and maintenance in national water and sanitation systems contributed to the crisis and have further aggravated the outbreak. This has debilitated and burdened the already fragile health sector, which recently saw the mass exodus of approximately 40% of doctors, 15% of specialized Neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurses, and 30% of midwives over the course of the crisis, leaving critical gaps in the quality, availability, and accessibility of healthcare for the population.

The 2022/23 school year started in October for first and second shift schools, with the registration of students extended until the 10th of December. However, localized strikes began to take place in December, with tensions continuing to rise due to the low value of teacher salaries. Teachers in the morning shift initiated open strikes in January 2023 and further negotiations between unions and government are currently ongoing to agree on a teacher incentive package.