The Minister of Health, Rakan Nasreddine, center, launching the safety campaign in nurseries on Sept. 2, 2025. He is flanked, to his right in the photo, by Sylvie Mechantaf, mother of little Carole, and to his left by MP Inaya Ezzeddine, in the presence of CRL paramedics and AUB researchers. (Credit: NNA.)
BEIRUT — Health Minister Rakan Nasreddine launched a campaign Friday, in collaboration with the Lebanese Red Cross and the AUB Policy Orientation Center KP2, aimed at strengthening safety standards in private daycares.
The minister named the initiative "Carole," after a girl who lost her life in a daycare.
The death of the four-month-old girl in a Kesrouan daycare was announced on April 30, 2025, by the ministry, and the facility was closed. The immediate cause of death, according to the forensic physician who examined the child's body, was "asphyxiation caused by milk reflux and airway obstruction." An investigation was opened.
Explaining the reason for launching the campaign, Nasreddine said it aims to "develop precise criteria that will be imposed on daycares."
He specified that "121 nurseries in the country have not responded to the Health Ministry's requests to renew their license," pledging to "close any daycare that does not comply with the required criteria."
The minister also announced that an accreditation process, similar to that of hospitals, will be applied to daycares, and that these facilities will undergo regular inspections.
For her part, Sylvie Mechantaf, mother of little Carole, delivered a moving speech in which she said her daughter's death, which plunged her into despair, also encouraged her to fight for the safety of all other children.
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