Lebanon faces humanitarian emergency after blast

Devi, Sharmila

doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(20)31750-5

“…The blast that struck the heart of the country is said to be equivalent to 1/10 of the blast effects of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The powerful explosion led to at least 180 deaths and an estimated 6000 people injured [ 14 ]. Over 110 people remain missing and hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless in the capital city.…”

Section: Working Long and Working Shortmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working short and working long: can primary healthcare be protected as a public good in Lebanon today?

Hamadeh

¹

,

Kdouh

²

,

Hammoud

³

et al. 2021

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In this commentary we propose four questions to be addressed while building a meaningful public primary healthcare response in Lebanon today. These questions emerge from two imperatives: the necessity to consider both short- and longer-term struggles in a context of protracted conflict and the need to protect public health as a public good whilst the public Primary Healthcare Network (PHCN) is facing the Covid19 pandemic. In order to identify how these questions are related to the need to be working short and long, we look at the imprints left by past and present shocks. Profound shocks of the past include the Lebanese civil war and the Syrian refugee crisis. We analyse how these shocks have resulted in the PHCN developing resilience mechanisms in order to ensure a space for healthcare provision that stands public in Lebanon today. Then, we consider how two present shocks -- the economic breakdown and the blast of ammonium nitrate in Beirut port -- are affecting and threatening the progress made by the PHCN to ensure that primary healthcare remains a public good, a fragile space acquired with difficulty in the past half century. We identify what questions emerge from the combined consequences of such traumas, when the immediate constraints of the present meet the impediments of the past. We consider what such questions mean more broadly, for the people living in Lebanon today, and for the PHCN ability to respond to the Covid 19 pandemic in a relevant way. Our hypothesis is that in a protracted conflict, such as the one defining the circumstances of Lebanon now, public access to primary healthcare might persist for the people as one safeguard, in which social and moral continuity can be anchored to protect a sense of public good.

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“…The blast that struck the heart of the country is said to be equivalent to 1/10 of the blast effects of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The powerful explosion led to at least 180 deaths and an estimated 6,000 people injured [14]. Over 110 people remain missing and hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless in the capital city.…”

Section: The Shocks Of the Presentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working short and working long: can primary healthcare be protected as a public good in Lebanon today?

Hamadeh

¹

,

Kdouh²,

Hammoud

³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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In this commentary we propose four questions to be addressed while building a meaningful public primary healthcare response in Lebanon today. These questions emerge from two imperatives: the necessity to consider both short- and longer-term struggles in a context of protracted conflict and the need to protect public health as a public good whilst the public Primary Healthcare Network (PHCN) is facing the Covid19 pandemic. In order to identify how these questions are related to the need to be working short and long, we look at the imprints left by past and present shocks. Profound shocks of the past include the Lebanese civil war and the Syrian refugee crisis. We analyse how these shocks have resulted in the PHCN developing resilience mechanisms in order to ensure a space for healthcare provision that stands public in Lebanon today. Then, we consider how two present shocks -- the economic breakdown and the blast of ammonium nitrate in Beirut port -- are affecting and threatening the progress made by the PHCN to ensure that primary healthcare remains a public good, a fragile space acquired with difficulty in the past half century. We identify what questions emerge from the combined consequences of such traumas, when the immediate constraints of the present meet the impediments of the past. We consider what such questions mean more broadly, for the people living in Lebanon today, and for the PHCN ability to respond to the Covid 19 pandemic in a relevant way. Our hypothesis is that in a protracted conflict, such as the one defining the circumstances of Lebanon now, public access to primary healthcare might persist for the people as one safeguard, in which social and moral continuity can be anchored to protect a sense of public good.

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“…On August 4, 2020, a massive explosion hit the capital city of Beirut, resulting in more than 190 deaths, 6000 injuries, 10–15 billion USD worth of property damage, and displacing 300,000 people from their homes (Devi 2020 ). The catastrophic blast was linked to approximately 2700 tons of confiscated ammonium nitrate that had been stored in the port without proper safety measures (Devi 2020 ). The explosion damaged many nearby hospitals, overcrowded healthcare facilities with patients, and reignited the popular uprising against the political regime (Devi 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The catastrophic blast was linked to approximately 2700 tons of confiscated ammonium nitrate that had been stored in the port without proper safety measures (Devi 2020 ). The explosion damaged many nearby hospitals, overcrowded healthcare facilities with patients, and reignited the popular uprising against the political regime (Devi 2020 ). Amid the already limited medical resources and supplies, the COVID-19 situation in the country had never been worse.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of the Beirut blast on the COVID-19 situation in Lebanon

Fares

¹

,

Musharrafıeh

²

,

Bizri

³

2021

J Public Health (Berl.)

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Aim On August 4, 2020, a massive explosion hit Lebanon’s capital city, Beirut. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of the Beirut blast on the COVID-19 situation in the country. Subject and Methods Data on COVID-19 were retrieved from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health (LMOPH), where all the COVID-19 positive cases were reported. The study was divided into two periods, considering the incubation period of the COVID-19 virus: (July 27–August 9, 2020) and (August 10–23, 2020). Information obtained included daily number of cases, tests, deaths, hospitalized patients, intensive care unit (ICU) patients, and mode of acquisition (local vs. expat). Daily positivity rates were reported per 100 tests. An independent sample t-test and a Joinpoint regression analysis were used to determine significance. A p value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results A total of 201,010 tests were conducted during our studied period, with 8993 positive cases, constituting a total positivity rate of 4.5 per 100 tests. Case fatality rate over the studied period was 0.8%. The positivity rate of the period prior to August 10, 2020, was 2.7 per 100 tests, significantly less than that of the period following the explosion, which was 6.4 per 100 tests (p < 0.001). During our studied period, daily positivity rates were significantly increasing at a slope of 0.29 (p < 0.001). A significant increase in slope was noted on August 13, 2020 (p < 0.001). The number of hospitalized patients increased from 139 patients on July 27 to 266 on August 23, 2020, and that of ICU patients increased from 36 to 75. Conclusion The port of Beirut explosion resulted in a significant increase in the daily number of positive COVID-19 cases. The aftermath of the explosion, the damage to healthcare facilities, and the overcrowding due to emergency efforts were contributing factors to that increase.

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Lebanon faces humanitarian emergency after blast

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Working short and working long: can primary healthcare be protected as a public good in Lebanon today?

Working short and working long: can primary healthcare be protected as a public good in Lebanon today?

Working short and working long: can primary healthcare be protected as a public good in Lebanon today?

The impact of the Beirut blast on the COVID-19 situation in Lebanon

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