22 June 2020 – Centres in the national primary health care (PHC) network have initiated screening for COVID-19 following training conducted by the Order of Nurses, in collaboration with the PHC department at the Ministry of Public Health. Staff working in PHC centres started screening for COVID-19 using a triage questionnaire prepared by the Order of...

22 June 2020 – COVID-19 spreads from person to person through droplets and contact transmission. Contact tracing is a critical component of comprehensive strategies to control the spread of COVID-19 and involves quick identification of people exposed to confirmed cases and following up with them to ensure rapid testing and quarantine with daily...

4 June 2020 – One of the known public health measures to achieve outbreak containment includes quarantine. Quarantine involves the restriction of movement or separation of individuals who may have been exposed to the virus, from the rest of the population, with the objective of monitoring symptoms and detecting cases early. Many countries have...

4 June 2020 – Public health emergencies, such as the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are stressful times for people and communities, in particular for people living with HIV with reduced immunity.  How COVID-19 affects people living with HIV is not fully known yet. At present, there is no evidence to suggest that there is an increased...

1 June 2020 – Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic is fast becoming an economic and social crisis which threatens human rights and people's security. Observing the crisis and its impact through a human rights lens puts a focus on how it is affecting people on the ground, particularly the most vulnerable among us, and what can be done about it now, and...

27 May 2020 – Just as fast as rumours spread, WHO, UNICEF and the United Nations Development Programme have collaborated with the Ministry of Information to create a platform that collects and posts fake news, misinformation and rumours circulating in the country under the title "Sa7e7 el Ma3loumeh" (check your facts). Several short animated...

27 May 2020 – Health systems are being strained worldwide by the rapidly increasing demands generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of past crises indicates that mortality from vaccine-preventable and treatable conditions increases dramatically when health systems are overwhelmed by an outbreak. In order to avoid a system collapse, countries are...

27 May 2020 – It is highly unlikely that people can get COVID-19 from food or food packaging; however, it is imperative for the food industry to reinforce personal hygiene measures and provide refresher training on food hygiene principles to eliminate or reduce the risk of food surfaces and food packaging materials becoming contaminated with the...

11 May 2020 – Evidence so far suggests that older persons and persons with chronic conditions, such as diabetes and hypertension, are more vulnerable to COVID-19 and particularly vulnerable to severe disease and mortality from the virus. COVID-19 data in Lebanon shows that around 22 out of 25 patients who died had an underlying chronic...

5 May 2020, Beirut – The Ambassador of the European Union in Lebanon, Ralph Tarraf, announced that the European Union’s is donating 15 million Euros to WHO to support the health system in Lebanon, with a main focus on access to essential medicines to those in need for the next 2 years. With this support, around 95 000 people from among the most...