According to United Nations statistics, says the International Business Times, Lebanon has taken in 1.3 million Syrian refugees and an additional 500,000 Palestinian refugees, giving Lebanon the highest per capita concentration of refugees worldwide. Estimates show that by the end of 2015, refugee numbers will grow by an additional 200,000 people.
Besides the lack of support in the health care sector associated with the huge influx of refugees, there is also the ongoing trash crisis in Lebanon that has World Health Organization (WHO) officials worried. Dr Alissar Rady, the officer in charge of WHO Lebanon, spoke with the IBTimes UK in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
Dr. Rady pointed out that Lebanon’s population has grown by 30 percent, with the amount of trash growing along with the increase in the number of people. She added, ” It’s worth noting that, in relation to the Syrian refugees, the overcrowded living and suboptimal sanitation conditions of the informal tented settlements that are spread across the country in more than 1,000 locations have increased the risk of diarrhoeal disease outbreaks among this refugee population as well as the host community.”
The trash crisis has gotten so bad that on Tuesday, the health and water ministry sounded the alarm, warning of the dire risks to public health if the crisis wasn’t resolved before the start of rains this winter,writes Lebanon’s The Daily Star.
The trash crisis began two months ago, after the Naameh landfill, the largest in Lebanon, was closed. It was opened in 1996 as a temporary fix to the garbage problem and was to be closed in two years after taking in two tons of rubbish. Instead, due to governmental ineptitude, according to many protesters, it was overflowing with 20 tons of garbage when it was closed.
In the interim, people in Beirut have been burning their garbage in their backyards and on the streets or dumping it in the rivers. Added to this crisis, working water and electricity supplies are sporadic. “When looking at illnesses among refugees, it’s more of a long-term thing. The problem now is the garbage crisis in Lebanon,” Maha Wakim, a psychologist working in Ain al-Hilweh, told IBTimes UK.
The very biggest fear voiced by health workers in Lebanon is the real possibility of an epidemic getting started. Talking about the recent sandstorm that swept through Lebanon and other parts of the mid-East, doctors cited the number of elderly people and children with respiratory problems, like asthma and allergies that now have lung infections.
One doctor who has worked in Lebanon for over 13 years said, “What we are concerned about is that usually after a storm like this we anticipate rain — and if it rains and all the garbage is everywhere and the water from the ground comes out in their pipes, that is a big threat.”
Ain al-Hilweh is the largest refugee camp in Lebanon, housing 70,000 Palestinians. It operates under the UNRWA (UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees in the near east).The UNRWA had its budget for housing subsidies cut, leaving 43,000 Palestinians from Syria homeless.
What makes it doubly difficult for refugees in Lebanon is that they are not allowed to work. Those refugees that registered on coming into the country have also had their $30 a month per person rations cut to $13 a month. Most all of the refugees want only one thing in this world, and that is to go home and live in peace. Many fear they will die waiting for peace to come.
