WHO warns of disease outbreaks in Lebanese shelters amid Israel's invasion
The global health body emphasised that disease outbreaks are exacerbated by overcrowded shelters and hospital closures resulting from ongoing Israeli attacks, putting immense strain on the healthcare system and complicating relief efforts.
Crowded shelters in Lebanon pose serious health threats as Israel continues its invasion. / Photo: Reuters
A World Health Organization official warned on Tuesday of disease outbreaks in Lebanon due to crowded conditions in displacement shelters and hospital closures as medics have fled Israel's assault.
Israeli forces have begun a ground invasion in the southwest of Lebanon, escalating a year-long conflict with the Iran-backed group Hezbollah that has killed over 1,000 people in the past two weeks and triggered a mass flight.
"We are facing a situation where there is a much higher risk of disease outbreaks, such as acute watery diarrhoea, hepatitis A, and a number of vaccine-preventable diseases," the WHO's Ian Clarke, Deputy Incident Manager for Lebanon, told a Geneva press briefing by video link from Beirut.
The UN health agency has already warned that the system is overstretched and five hospitals in the country have closed so far and four are only partly functional, Clarke said.
He added that hospitals had been shut because medics had either fled the fighting or been asked to evacuate by Lebanese authorities.
At the same briefing, a World Food Programme official voiced concern about Lebanon's ability to feed itself, saying thousands of hectares of farmland across the country's south have burned or been abandoned amid escalating hostilities.
"Agriculture-wise, food production-wise, (there is) extraordinary concern for Lebanon's ability to continue to feed itself," said Matthew Hollingworth, WFP country director in Lebanon, adding that harvests will not occur and that the existing crops are rotting in fields.
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