Beirut (Al-Ittihad)
Yesterday, the Minister of Public Health in Lebanon, Firas Al-Abyad, warned of the spread of diseases in Syrian refugee camps, calling for starting to combat them and not waiting for epidemics to spread.
This came in a statement issued by the Minister’s Media Office in response to the news circulating regarding the recording of cases of “wheezing” disease and the increasing cases of skin rashes in the Syrian refugee camps in the Arsal region in northeastern Lebanon due to stagnant water and the lack of clean water.
The Lebanese Minister of Health explained that the task of providing clean water to the camps and removing stagnant sewage is the responsibility of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), noting that the organization’s deputy representative in Lebanon, Etty Higgins, informed him of a reduction in the financial grant allocated to this matter, which was automatically reflected in the services provided.
He also indicated that the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ivo Friesen, assured him that health coverage for Syrian refugees would be reduced to half of what it was.
The Lebanese Minister of Health called on the international community to assume its responsibilities by ensuring the minimum level and not to neglect the necessary health security for Syrian refugees and their Lebanese counterparts, without any conditions, pointing out that Lebanon has fulfilled its “humanitarian duties” towards refugees since 2011.
Last week, a delegation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, headed by the UNHCR representative in Lebanon, Ivo Friesen, informed the Lebanese Minister of Health, Firas Al-Abyad, of a sharp reduction in the UNHCR’s budget, including the budget allocated to health, under the weight of successive global crises in recent years.
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