Health Minister Rakan Nasreddine speaking during a press conference at the Health Ministry on June 11, 2025. (Credit: Ghadir Hamadi/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — More than 1,100 children and newborns across Lebanon have received life-saving surgeries under a health initiative co-funded by the European Union and carried out in partnership with the French organization La Chaîne de l’Espoir, Health Minister Rakan Nasreddine announced in a press conference at the Health Ministry on Wednesday.
Launched under the Health Ministry’s supervision and co-funded by the European Union Humanitarian Aid, the initiative aims to improve the lives of children suffering from gastrointestinal or urinary diseases that require surgery.
The project targets children and newborns from birth to age 17, regardless of nationality, with a focus on serving marginalized communities. According to Nasreddine, “1,115 surgeries were performed targeting the most marginalized of our communities.”
“We were able to do such a project thanks to the generous donation of the E.U., however, using the Lebanese Health Ministry’s standards,” he added.
Nassereddine reaffirmed his commitment to expanding such efforts: “We will continue to launch such projects that support the most marginalized,” he said, noting that he is “pushing for more funding for the Health Ministry so that our people who can’t afford the cost of private healthcare still receive the best possible healthcare.”
The program is part of a broader humanitarian effort that has been ongoing since 2005 under La Chaîne de l’Espoir’s operations in Lebanon.
The health of children in Lebanon is also threatened by severe food shortages. A January 2025 UNICEF survey found that almost half of all children (49 per cent) under 18 years of age in the Bekaa governorate and just over one-third (34 per cent) in the Baalbeck-Hermel governorate had either not eaten or had had only one meal on the day prior to the survey being conducted. Nationwide, the rate was 30 per cent.
In the press release accompanying the survey's publication, UNICEF warned that poor nutrition and insufficient meal frequency stunt children’s growth and cognitive development and increase their risk of suffering from life-threatening malnutrition.