Lebanon

Humanitarian context

The economic crisis, the protracted Syrian refugee crisis, a cholera outbreak, the political stalemate and, more recently, the spread of the conflict in Gaza into Lebanon, have led to an increase in humanitarian needs in the country. Despite its size, Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees relative to its population in the world, and faces significant challenges in providing assistance to the 1.5 million Syrian and 257,000 Palestinian refugees it hosts, in addition to the Lebanese population itself.

More than half of Lebanese households and 90% of Syrian households in the country live in poverty. Public services are collapsing due to lack of investment, exacerbating poor water and sanitation conditions. These crises have led to a worsening nutritional situation, with rates of chronic malnutrition among Syrian refugees in informal settlements doubling in the last decade, and more than 60% of children from refugee populations suffering emaciation.

Our activity

In response to these challenges, Action Against Hunger focuses primarily on providing assistance in health, nutrition, water, sanitation and food security. By 2023 we will reach more than 190,000 people. Of these, more than 175,000 were supported with water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives, including hygiene kits and awareness programmes, and infrastructure restoration to cope with water and sanitation emergencies. Feedback on our project to distribute water filters to Syrian refugees in Qaa-Hermel, a hard-to-reach area with a high degree of water contamination, indicated a significant improvement in water quality following the use of the filters. In addition, 76% of people reported spending less on drinking water (highlighting the financial impact of the intervention) and feeling safer when accessing water sources.

Our health and nutrition support reached more than 7,000 people, including infant and child feeding counselling, distribution of micronutrient powders and screening for child malnutrition. Food security and livelihood support reached more than 8,000 people, with cash-for-work and cash food assistance initiatives enabling these families to significantly improve consumption levels of nutritious food.