The outgoing Minister of Health, Firas Abiad, presented a new assessment of human losses since September 15. The latest figures currently show 4,047 dead and 16,638 injured following Israeli attacks against Lebanon.
Launch of the first regional report on nutrition and early childhood development
Earlier on Wednesday, the ministry, in collaboration with UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), released a groundbreaking report, the first of its kind in the region, on guidelines for prevention and management malnutrition and the growth of young children. This report is part of the National Strategy for Nutrition and Early Childhood Development, and places Lebanon at the head of the region as the first country to compile data on the growth of children during their first two years of life.
In his speech, Mr. Abiad welcomed this initiative which demonstrates the progress made by Lebanon in this area. He also welcomed the quality and precision of the work accomplished, despite the extreme challenges facing the country.
Engagement international
For his part, Akhil Iyer, representative of Unicef, declared that “for the first time in Lebanon, we have comprehensive data on early childhood development”. He thus called for intersectoral collaboration to guarantee healthy development for every child in Lebanon.
For his part, the WHO representative in Lebanon, Abdel Nasser Abou Bakr, stressed that “this project reflects a collective effort to strengthen the health system and respond to the challenges of malnutrition, particularly among the most vulnerable populations” . According to him, “WHO played a key role in the development of the guidelines, ensuring that they are based on the latest global recommendations of 2023 while being adapted to the Lebanese context”.
Swiss
