A plea for reproductive health support amid crisis in Lebanon

The Lancet
Mar 30, 2022


For the past 2 years, Lebanon has been grappling with social anarchy, political turmoil, and one of the world's most crippling economic crises.
 The country was then pummelled by the COVID-19 pandemic followed by the third-largest non-nuclear explosion in history that destroyed Beirut in 2020.
Lebanon is hence amid an escalating humanitarian emergency emanating from the synergistic effects of these crises in addition to a collapsing medical sector demolished by mass immigration of health-care workers, severe shortage in crucial hospital supplies including electricity and diesel, and slashing of subsidies on over 1500 medicines making them exhaustively unaffordable, if found.
Although most light is shed on addressing chronic illnesses, reproductive health can take a major hit if not adequately tackled. Studies have shown that grave conflicts lead to dismal repercussions on reproductive health culminating in increased morbidity and mortality risks among women.
 Menstrual poverty is an additional endured struggle with prices of sanitary pads quintupling, forcing women to find sub-optimal substitutes associated with deplorable sequelae including higher infection risks.