Escalating hostilities in Lebanon having dire impact on children’s mental health

• One in five children in Lebanon now displaced
• Almost 90,000 children in need of mental health support as conflict continues to escalate
• Children’s safety, health, education and wellbeing is at risk.

25 October 2024 – More than 88,400 children urgently need mental health support as conflict spreads across Lebanon, warns humanitarian organisation World Vision.

More than one in five children (over 400,000) in Lebanon have fled their homes to escape the threat of death, injury, and destruction. More and more families beyond the border region – in what were earlier considered ‘safer areas’ – are being forced to flee their homes to escape the escalating violence.

Beyond the immediate threat to children’s physical safety and death, the long-term trauma and future threats that young people face are dire. One in every five children living in conflict zones around the world are at risk of suffering from mental health issues as a direct result of a loss of normalcy, witnessing conflict first-hand, experiencing violence, going without food, being forcibly displaced from their homes, and being kept out of school.

“Our conservative estimate is that tens of thousands of children need mental health support, but we expect these numbers to rise as the conflict continues. Children here have already been through so much – conflict, economic crisis, COVID-19, the Beirut blast – and each of these exert a mental cost on children’s resilience. Just yesterday, our staff visited one of our psychosocial projects, where children told them that even though they are in a safe setting, they are constantly scared of something happening to them or their parents.” says Heidi Diedrich, National Director, World Vision Lebanon.

Shelters have rapidly filled up. Schools and other child services have been paused as children and their families focus on survival. Before this latest escalation, dozens of schools, that had already been repurposed to house around a thousand internally displaced people, were immensely overcrowded. With even more classrooms needed to house families who have nowhere else to go, half of all schools in Lebanon are now collective shelters. This means they aren’t able to run as educational institutions, putting children at a heightened risk of exploitation, child labour, and abuse.

“Increasing aggressions jeopardise children’s protection, mental health, education, and long-term well-being. Children and young people’s safety must remain the top priority. World Vision is ramping up our response efforts in Lebanon, but the needs and areas at risk are growing rapidly. We call on all parties to reach an immediate and lasting peace in the Middle East, to save lives, protect children from the violence of conflict and forced displacement, ensure essential aid and supplies can reach the civilian population, and enable children’s education,” said Diedrich.

ENDS

Notes to editor: 

• Based on UNICEF’s estimate of more than 400,000 children displaced and 1,760,210 children in Lebanon
• Shared shelters, such as unfinished buildings, informal tented settlements, and classrooms, are hosting around a thousand internally displaced persons (IDPs). Almost 200,000 people (25% of the total displaced) are staying in one of 1002 collective shelters.
• One in every five children in conflict zones are at risk of suffering from mental health issues. This calculation is based on the presumed prevalence in long-term conflict-affected populations per The Lancet (22.1%).
• World Vision has been working in Lebanon since 1975 with the onset of the Lebanese civil war. World Vision Lebanon has been responding to emergency levels of hunger, with in-kind food, cash assistance, and cash-for-work projects, as well as training producers to improve food production methods, as part of the organisation’s Global Hunger Response since March 2021. They are now scaling up these efforts as part of their campaign to end child hunger and malnutrition. Despite the recent escalation of violence and the deteriorating security situation, World Vision has found ways to continue serving the most vulnerable, especially those residing within a 12-kilometre zone along the southern border, which has been especially affected by the hostilities, airstrikes, and shelling. We have been actively responding to the urgent needs of affected and displaced children and their families, including lifesaving in-kind food and cash and voucher assistance; access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene needs; psychosocial support and trauma-informed care for affected children and caregivers; educational support for displaced children; resilience-building activities; and strengthening child protection mechanisms. World Vision reached 837,825 people, including 420,753 children, in Lebanon in 2023, and 223,574 girls, boys, women, and men as part of our response to the Middle East Crisis in Lebanon between October 2023 and September 2024. World Vision remains committed to supporting the most vulnerable during this crisis and urges the international community to take immediate action to stop the violence and protect the children of Lebanon.

For more information please contact: World Vision’s Middle East Crisis Response Communications Director, Kate Shaw kate_shaw@wvi.org

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian and development organisation dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities to reach their full potential by tackling the root causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.  For more information, please visit www.wvi.org or follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, @WorldVision.