UN agencies voice concern about Lebanon food supplies, disease outbreaks

World Food Programme official Matthew Hollingworth voiced concern on Tuesday 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," Hollingworth, WFP country director in Lebanon, told a Geneva press briefing, adding that harvests will not occur and that produce is rotting in fields.

At the same briefing, World Health Organization official Ian Clarke in Beirut warned that there was a much higher risk of disease outbreaks among Lebanon's displaced population.

"We are facing a situation where there is a much higher risk of disease outbreaks, such as acute watery diarrhea, hepatitis A, and a number of vaccine-preventable diseases," said Ian Clarke, WHO deputy director for Lebanon, during the same press conference in Geneva, held via video link from Beirut.

The U.N. health agency has already warned that the system is overwhelmed, and so far five hospitals in the country have closed, while four are only partially operational, Clarke said. He added that hospitals were closed because medical staff had either fled the fighting or were instructed to evacuate by Lebanese authorities.